Personal interviews with artists in Barcelona-

Jo Sol

Barcelona Director Looks at the City’s Culture and Cinema

 By Regina W.B.

Director Jo Sol is best known for his 2005 full-length feature, El Taxista Ful. The award nominated film (San Sebastian 2005, Nantes 2006, Roma 2006, Buenos Aires 2006) is a complicated social commentary focusing on extremist factions of Barcelona culture, including anarchists, okupas, and those generally against The Man. Shot in Barcelona and produced by local company Zip-Films, the film’s script fittingly undulates between Catalan and Spanish. With simple grace, Sol attempts to contrast mainstream and radical philosophies through the accidental friendship of two unlikely friends.

Like his film, Sol is a complex individual with some contrasting ideas of his own. Born in Gracia, at 38 the director still resides in his barri of birth but has plans to leave. ‘In my lifetime, I’ve seen the deterioration of this neighbourhood. It’s nothing like it used to be.’ Sol told Metropolitan. Sol believes that it’s not just Gracia that is perishing but all of Barcelona, which he sees becoming more and more of a ‘homogenized’ culture. As Barcelona becomes just like every other Western European city, the uniqueness of the place and culture is lost.

With ideas such as these, one may fairly assume that Jo Sol is a bit of a Catalan Nationalist. Nothing could be further from the truth according to the director; ‘I don’t believe in borders, and I’m not a Nationalist, nothing seems more ridiculous to me. I am, however, an independista.’

Sol’s unrest about what he sees as a loss of selfhood and trend towards complacency in Barcelona has driven him to focus on radical characters and plots in his films. The director sees protesters, anarchists, and other folks living ‘outside of society’ as the only people of real interest in Barcelona, and applauds them for maintaining the Back-Sheep tradition which has always been an intricate part of Catalan society.

His next full-length film will come out in late 2008, and is titled, ‘Ilegal’. Along the same lines as El Taxista Ful, the new film examines another touchy aspect of Barcelona culture; illegal immigration. In ‘Ilegal’ all immigrants are Caucasian and the upper-class are people-of-color. This social role reversal is a clever plot twist intended to drive the film’s message home.

Not surprisingly, Jo Sol has always been fascinated with examining society and anthropology in general. His interest is especially focused on indigenous populations which have maintained their cultural traditions. This personal interest inspired him to travel to Latin America, where he first began his career in film working on an anthropology project related to Zapatistas. His experience in film has been mainly on-the-job, having never attended film school or college. After filming in Mexico, Sol went on to make seven short films, one made-for-television film (Renda Antigua1995), and two full-length features (Tatawo 2000 and El Taxista Ful 2005).

Though disenchanted with Spain and his native Barcelona, Sol admits that Spain is currently one of the most progressive countries in the film industry. Big names like Almodovar and Enrice aside, Sol believes that a lot of new talent is coming out of Barcelona specifically. Films such as ‘Yo’ (Alex Brendemühl 2007), ‘La Soledad’ (Jaime Rosales 2007), and‘Honor de Caballería’ (Albert Serra 2006), are recent examples of top-notch, inventive Barcelona-brand cinema.

When asked what the future holds for Jo Sol, he told Metropolitan that he wasn’t planning on sticking around Barcelona for much longer. ‘While occidental theory has always interested me, living in Western Europe does not. I prefer a different lifestyle, which is more prevalent in Asia.’  When finished with 'Ilegal’, Sol plans to up root and move to a new cultural reality in Laos.

Changing Tune:

An Interview with Jazz Musician Michele Faber

By Regina W. B.

From bebop to swing to Brazilian Bossa nova, Michele Faber knows all the tunes. A professional jazz pianist from the United States, Faber played professionally in Los Angles for twenty-five years before making her move to Barcelona five years ago. While Faber’s life in Catalonia is slower-paced than hectic L.A., she still keeps busy playing weekly with the Michele Faber Trio and Brazilian Magic, a group collaboration with guitarist Judinho Cruz and others. 

Faber recorded Mar Vista Sessions in 1999, and has contributed to a number of other albums. She plans to record again soon but this time the songs will be all her own, many of them reflective of her time in Barcelona. Earlier this year, Faber gave a solo concert featuring original compositions at El Ateneo Barcelones. She has no plans of returning to L.A., having found inspiration, appreciation, and a new home in the Catalan capital city.

How did you start playing jazz?

I grew up playing classical piano, so I had a solid musical base. When I went to college I developed an interest in learning to play jazz. Really, I had no idea how a person learned jazz and it seemed intimidating. In San Francisco I met a very talented jazz musician and asked him to teach me. He did, as did others. Eventually I started playing professionally.

It’s uncommon for women to play jazz, outside of singing. What has been your experience as ‘the exception to the rule’?

When I was first starting out, some musicians would give me a hard time. They would look at me and assume that I wouldn’t be able to keep up with the group, sometimes selecting little known tunes in attempt to slip me up. This happened to me a couple of times, where I was clueless to what I was being asked to play. In response, I made an effort to learn every ballad and I came across. I memorized them. This way, I was always prepared no mater who I was playing with or how obscure the song. In the long run, this additional pressure has made me a better, more marketable musician in that my repertoire is vast.

Why Barcelona?

I wanted a change and had a friend in Barcelona. Coming from car-centered California, I wanted to be in a city where I wasn’t driving from gig to gig, stuck in traffic and caught up in the big car, big house, big money mindset that seems so prevalent in Los Angles. Living in central Barcelona, I can walk to work. Also, I like the element of interaction here. I step out of my flat and I’m in the middle of people talking, singing, moving, doing things. This is such a contrast to L.A. where people go from car to house, and try to interact as little as possible. Plus, Barcelona is a pretty city.

What’s the main difference between playing in Los Angles and Barcelona?

Appreciation. In the United States people treat jazz like it’s nothing but background noise. They talk through your songs and are too cool to clap. Here on the other hand, people are excited about music and see it as an important event. In Barcelona, people pay attention when I’m playing, which is gratifying and polite.

What are you looking forward to?

Currently, I play in Barcelona and Italy and hope to play in other parts of Europe as well. I’m also planning to record an album of entirely my own compositions very soon, which is exciting. I would also like to do another concert at El Ateneo Barcelones.

Where can you be found?

Every Tuesday at Ferrum Restaurant and also weekly at Arrel Del Born. I also occasionally perform at jazz festivals and other special concerts around town.