Danzón V.2

This is the second version of this piece, the first one (https://vimeo.com/148887602) was done 6 years ago.
This music and, especially this interpretation, really speak to me, hence this revisiting.

A word of caution for the mad zappers out there: this piece, like so many others of mine, needs time to establish its language, it is not dropped all cooked and pre-digested in your mouth, you have to work too in order to get in.
Whether it is worth the effort or not, you will be the judge, but for Pete’s sake, give it a try, give it some time.

And I highly recommend selecting the “1080p” version, it is still very far from the pristine uncompressed original, but it is less of a “porridge” than smaller size versions.
This is even truer with this new version, the difference between the original ProRes 4444 version and what's left of it through web conversion and Vimeo digesting is sad, so many details and more are totally lost.

I discovered Arturo Márquez’s "Danzón No. 2” through the magnificent “El Sistema” documentary
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=276oR_tEmbs) in which Gustavo Dudamel performs that music at the helm of the "Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar de Venezuela.”
I immediately knew I would have to listen to that with my eyes.
When I finally found the time to do so, I also discovered another version (several in fact), conducted by Alondra de la Parra, one with the "Orchestre de Paris," and this one, with the "Orquesta Filarmónica de las Américas" (part of Alondra de la Parra’s CD “Mi Alma Mexicana/My Mexican Soul” http://www.allmusic.com/album/mi-alma-mexicana-my-mexican-soul-mw0002011147).

I am not qualified to make a learned comparative analysis of the various versions I have at my disposal, but I will say that this version is the one that gave me the most lucid “visual feelings” with/from which to proceed.

I have a very ambiguous relationship with “mirror images,” either they are immediately dismissed as too much of an easy/cheap option, or they irk me when they manage to grab my attention (a bit akin to how I feel when I catch myself being moved by recipe-driven film/animation).
Yet, this music, and this interpretation by Alondra de la Parra, progressively imposed that “mirror image” look, even adding along the way a connection with another Mexican piece, which I have also heard interpreted by various conductors and orchestras, Silvestre Revueltas’ "La Noche de los Mayas” and especially its fourth movement, "Noche de Encantamiento” (here with Alondra de la Parra conducting the "Orchestre de Paris:" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRwExCe6iFc).

Somehow, while creating/finding the images for Danzón, the two pieces overlapped, which reenforced the feeling that a “mirror image” approach was the right one for Danzón.

One bit of personal information: my first marriage was to a beautiful woman born in Mexico City of an American father (a “gringo”) and a Honduran mother. We lasted 12 years together, years during which I was exposed to Mexican (and Yucatán Peninsula's) culture (not “just” its glorious food).
Much of that revisited me during the making of this piece.

¡Vamos a bailar!

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