Mambo To Hip Hop looks like it’s going to be an interesting film from the renowned urban photographer Henry Chalfant (don’t ask me why his name is spelled differently in the credits). If you’re lucky enough to be near the Bronx on May 31st you should seriously consider checking out the early rough-cut screening. Reservations should be booked in advance. Link, trailer
Bronx Based New Edge Theater is hosting a “rough cut” screening of the eagerly anticipated City Lore documentary film “MAMBO TO HIP HOP” on Tuesday, May 31st at Cafe Lous in the North Bronx with a Live All Star Show featuring El Extremes Electric Cabaret and Guest Stars 7:30 PM.
Mambo to Hip Hop: A South Bronx Story features: Ray Barretto, Benny Bonilla, Orlando Marin, Manny Oquendo, Willie Colon, Africa Bambaata, Charlie Chase, Fabel, Luis Chaluisan (El Extreme), Kid Freeze, Track II, Trace, Bom 5, Sandra Maria Esteves, Bobby Sanabria and more.
The schools and lunch tables were our drums; we played clave with the spoons.– Percussionist Manny Oquendo, student at PS 52 in the 1940s
Mambo to Hip Hop: A South Bronx Story, a work-in-progress projected to be released in the fall of 2005, will be an hour long documentary produced by City Lore, Inc. and directed by Henry Chalfant.The film presents a panoramic view of the music that blossomed in the latin community of the South Bronx from the late 1940’s when mambo burst onto the New York cultural scene through the birth of hip hop in the 1970s. The film chronicles two generations who grew up literally on the same streets, and both used rhythm as their forms of rebellion – for the older generation it was the pulsating rhythms of Cuba; for their children it was the rhythms of rap. The film, designed for public television and possibly theatrical release, aims to bring attention to the Bronx neighborhoods and communities who, with few resources, transformed the world’s pop culture.
