Director Varda Bar-Kar's groundbreaking music documentary Fandango at the Wall (HBO) has spawned a Grammy®-winning album, "The Best Latin Jazz Album".
At the heart of Bar-Kar's Fandango at the Wall beats a transformative bi-national border gathering of song and dance rooted in the son jarocho tradition called Fandango Fronterizo. Son jarocho is a mystical 300-year-old folk music tradition, from Veracruz, Mexico, that combines Indigenous, African, and Spanish traditions.
"Fandango at the Wall in New York" was produced by Kabir Sehgal and features pianist, composer, and educator and conductor of the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, Arturo O'Farrill in collaboration with the Conga Patria Collective comprised of son jarocho masters Patricio Hidalgo, Ramón Gutiérrez, Tacho Utrera, Wendy Cao Romero, Jorge Francisco Castillo, and Fernando Guadarrama and special guests. This is the first time jarocho artists have been awarded a Grammy,
Fandango at the Wall (Producer, Kabir Sehgal, Executive Producers, Quincy Jones, Andrew Young, & Carlos Santana) unfolds with lush and at times hypnotic imagery captured by award-winning cinematographer Matt Porwoll. Editor Luisa Maria Martinez Aracaz, of Mexico City's creativity-driven post-production house Dinamita Post, skillfully interweaves the film's multiple storylines.
According to the Decider's John Serba, "Fandango at the Wall director Varda Bar-Kar doesn’t over – or understate the film’s themes, keeping a steady focus on the music, which is uniformly wonderful. Eventually, all parties gather at the Tijuana beach wall and perform; they do so again when O’Farrill arranges for everyone to play in New York. But these aren’t the film’s great moments — not even close. It’s experiencing these musicians performing in their village squares without amplification or pretense. It’s seeing them in their homes, showing us their gorgeous handmade instruments, and telling their stories. Music is so deeply ingrained in their lives; you’ll truly believe they couldn’t live without it…Those moments are simply wonderful."
Varda Bar-Kar is currently in-progress on a new music documentary about the life and music of groundbreaking singer-songwriter Janis Ian.
