International Premiere

You know the tune, but you probably cannot remember where you heard it. Perhaps you remember lugubrious Spanish lyrics or the breezy English lyrics Elvis sang in BLUE HAWAII. The song is Sebastián de Iradier’s La Paloma, which he composed in the Basque country in the 1860s. La Paloma has traversed the globe since its composition, and while the original music has survived the trek, the lyrics have not. Each culture that adopts the song transforms its meaning, and this malleability is the cornerstone of Sigrid Faltin’s staggering contemplation of the power of music.

Faltin investigates the rich history of La Paloma by taking us to Cuba, Mexico, Hawaii, Romania, Germany, the Basque Country, and finally Tanzania. Archival footage, clips of films in which the song appears, and interviews with the people who keep La Paloma alive have a remarkable effect on the storytelling:  historical and geographical distances disappear, and we get to see the song’s meaning shift instantaneously and continuously.  

LA PALOMA shows us that before methods like file-sharing revolutionized music distribution, songs still made their way across continents, and the process resulted in a culturally specific, organic evolution. Whether musicians and listeners interpret La Paloma as a heart-wrenching ballad, a beach tune, an executioner’s song, a funeral dirge or a political call to action, its universal yet locally-adapted appeal is astounding.

—Deborah L. Jaramillo