An Evening With Sublime Frequencies Filmmaker
HISHAM MAYET
7pm, Saturday, March 9th
at Willimantic Records.
Presented with the assistance of the Thread City Film Brigade.
Willimantic Records
744 Main Street
Willimantic, CT 06226 USA
(entrance and parking are in the back of the building on Riverside Drive, near the railroad tracks)
Phone: 860-450-7000
Admission is free, with donations to the filmmaker encouraged and appreciated. More info at www.willimanticrecords.com
Hisham Mayet is coming to Willimantic Records to show two of his films followed by a Q&A session with the audience. DJ Robert Jaz will also be present to share gems from the Sublime Frequencies audio vault.
The Divine River: Ceremonial Pageantry In The Sahel
Condensed from 40 hours of footage shot between 2007 and 2012, The Divine River is an exhilarating, hallucinatory, harrowing record of music, ritual, life and landscape along the Niger River—which the Tuareg call Egerew n-Igerewen, or “River of Rivers”— as it winds through Mali and the Republic of Niger.
Traversing 300 miles of this transitional zone between the Sahara and the Savanna, The Divine River is not a linear record of a journey so much as a phantasmagoria of visual associations that create their own emotional topography and chronology, always accompanied by music that blurs the lines between sacred and secular, past and present.
Highlights include intimate views of ecstatic dance in the painted houses of the island-dwelling Wogo; the seductive courtship rites and trance vocals of young Wodaabe men; a mesmeric Tuareg and Zarma duet for guitar and molo; Hausa griots enchanting with comsaa strings; Zarma spirit possession ceremonies; and heart-stopping footage of the Dogon mask ritual atop the Bandiagara Escarpment in the village of Endele.
Vodoun Gods on the Slave Coast
Hisham Mayet’s exploration of West African possession ceremonies continues in Benin. Benin is the cradle and birthplace of Voodoo. Formally known as the Slave Coast as, most of the slave industry was exported from its shores. Voodoo worship is integral to the every day lives of the people of Benin. This film, shot in 2010 during the country’s rich Vodoun celebrations, is an impressionistic lens on the myriad ceremonies that this rich and diverse culture has to offer. Showcasing intimate observations of a variety of Voodoo ceremonies: The cult of Sakpata (god of Pestilence and healing), Egoun dramas shrouded in magisterial costumes and the Secret Police of the Zangbeto night watchmen, among other highlights.
Hisham Mayet is a founding member of the Sublime Frequencies Collective. His work with the label has been prolific and inspired. He is responsible for introducing now legendary guitar bands from the Sahara to worldwide audiences; Group Doueh, Group Inerane, and Group Bombino. His many films for the label have been redefining the nature of ethnographic film and they continue to provoke, amaze and inspire.
SUBLIME FREQUENCIES is a collective of explorers dedicated to acquiring and exposing obscure sights and sounds from modern and traditional urban and rural frontiers via film and video, field recordings, radio and short wave transmissions, international folk and pop music, sound anomalies, and other forms of human and natural expression not documented sufficiently through all channels of academic research, the modern recording industry, media, or corporate foundations. SUBLIME FREQUENCIES is focused on an aesthetic of extra-geography and soulful experience inspired by music and culture, world travel, research, and the pioneering recording labels of the past including OCORA, SMITHSONIAN FOLKWAYS, ETHNIC FOLKWAYS, LYRICHORD, NONESUCH EXPLORER, MUSICAPHONE, BARONREITER, UNESCO, PLAYASOUND, MUSICAL ATLAS, CHANT DU MONDE, B.A.M., TANGENT, and TOPIC. SUBLIME FREQUENCIES PO BOX 17971 SEATTLE WA 98127 USA
Please help spread the word about this special event.
Willimantic Records
744 Main St
Back Entrance
Willimantic, CT 06226
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