2000 kilometers on horseback from Buenos Aires to the northern province of Salta. For "Eternal Procession", bandoneon player Tomi Lebrero and musician and filmmaker Segundo Bercetche saddled up to get to know the musicians:inside and instruments of rural Argentina.
With three horses and the bandoneon as a door opener, they come into contact with the people, their humor, their lives and their songs at festivals, ceremonies and in everyday life. On the album "Eternal Procession" you can listen to this fascinating musical journey through rural Argentina.
The Gauchos of Pampa (1/4)
The Pampas region in Argentina includes the provinces of Buenos Aires, Santa Fe and Córdoba. It is the most productive area of the country. In the first scene we show a typical rural road planted with soybeans, which is the most successful and widespread crop of the last twenty years. Although this development has attacked musical traditions, many “gauchos” still live in the region which has much admiration for the horse.
Singing with the Santiaguenos (2/4)
Santiago del Estero is a province with few economic resources, where people have much love for their land and folklore. In this province there are still people who speak "Quichua", the language of the Inca Empire. Carlos Coria, a bandoneon player from Santiagueño, welcomes Tomi and his horses. They talk about the difficulties of traveling on horseback nowadays. Juan Díaz is a bandoneon player with whom Tomi has taken lessons, so he gives Tomi some lessons on the folkloric style of the bandoneon.
Lonely Coplas in Salta (3/4)
Salta: Further into the Andes, at an altitude of almost 3000 meters, Tomi arrives with his horses in the Quebrada de Escoipe. There he meets Normando Tolaba, who like so many in this area has learned to sing "coplas" with his "caja" (drum) thanks to his mother. Normando has his farm up in the mountains where he works the land. The "coplas" he sings are for the goats, the harvest, or even to describe the loneliness that plagues these remote places. Afterwards, we enjoy the festivities following the Payogasta procession, where hundreds of gauchos greet the Virgin on horseback.
Easter processions in Jujuy (4/4)
The procession to Punta Corral in Jujuy takes place in the days before Maundy Thursday (Easter). The sikuris bands from the region parade for two days in groups of sikuris, drums and cymbals to look for the Virgin at an altitude of about 4000 meters and bring her to the town of Tilcara. At the top of the hills, more than 70 bands play their marches, sometimes all the bands play at the same time, resulting in a chaotic polyphony that is sometimes indescribable, but certainly beautiful. After a brief religious ceremony, the bands salute the image of the Virgin and a group of women with sheep quarters precede the procession, performing a dance called "cuarteadas".