Documentary series (musical)

12 episodes x 30’
On air in Señal Colombia during 2008
Monday 8:30pm, Saturday 5:00pm
Synopsis

Because history is more than battles and independence heroes, more than the elections and new constitutions which appear every so often. History’s B-Sides explores past events whose effects continue to resonate, in one way or another, in the present. Each chapter seeks to trigger the memories which lie dormant in objects, places, people, plants, songs and grandparents’ stories. With music, imagination and strict historical grounding, episodes in Colombian history such as the 1928 Banana Workers’ Strike, the nineteenth-century rubber extraction in the Amazon, the arrival of television to the country, and indigenous peoples’ struggle for greater political and cultural autonomy are portrayed to show that history isn’t stuck in the past but is rather a living process that gives shape and meaning to our own times.
Approach

The series uses historical reenactments, interviews, animation, journeys and popular songs to explore how the present bears the stamp of the past. To illustrate the intimate connections between different periods, archive images are juxtaposed with recent shots. The programs are presented by well-known Colombian musicians (Andrea Echeverri, Ana Veydo, Goyo and Tostao) who act as charismatic guides.

Project developed by 4direcciones, and The National Museum of Colombia.

Volume 1. SONG OF THE CHIEF (Cacique sonoro)

¿What do a 16th century indigenous chief, an unsolved murder in Sesquilé and a ceremonial staff of guayacán wood conserved in the National Museum of Colombia have to do with one another? Through word and song, Andrea Echeverri and the Campo Sonoro group explain how the history of Colombia forms a complex weave and a succession of surprising encounters. In this chapter we tell the story of the Mestizo Chief of Turmequé, Don Diego de Torres, and his present relationship with a Muisca indigenous community located in Sesquilé, Cundinamarca. We look at words like “Indian”, “Mestizo” and “Cacique” and we see how their meaning is important for the recovery of memories of the conquest of the high plains region of Cundinamarca and Boyacá.