Flamenco Is ‘A Bird With Very Long Legs’ (Video)

Aging Spanish flamenco artist Manuel Molina gives sensitive, forceful expression to the common things of life: singing with the voice one has, learning trust and mistrust, going without food, and enjoying the company of friends.

In a scene from a 20-minute movie by Italian-American filmmaker and musician Tao Ruspoli below, Molina talks with a companion about the community of friends and family that he reveled and took comfort in during his many years. “Hope is fading,” Molina says in a crowded bar. The pal responds with a finger wag, “I don’t think there is any hope.” Molina concedes, “Every day less, but listen, occasionally there is something, and thank God. But in the old days it was at any moment, and in the old days, a watermelon was enough to give a party. You didn’t need a lot of money. … The bar was enough, and you’d go for three days singing and dancing and crying and laughing.”

The friend interrupts again. “And feeling,” he says. “And learning.”

Molina once more: “And you went home filled with happiness. And this money can’t buy.”

— Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.

ruspoli: