Puablo Armado
Harold Gramatgès
" the small array of Cuban songs functions better than the majority of the original score. "Written by Joep de Bruijn - Review of the music as heard in the movie
In a continuation of Joris Ivens' career, previously reviewing the original score to the travelogue; (https://maintitles.net/reviews/a-valparaiso)
At the beginning of the 1960s, the Dutch filmmaker undertook several journeys to Cuba, which resulted in one travelogue (....À Valparaíso) and one (almost) fully propaganda Puablo Armado (Pueblo en armas, A People in Arms) documentary, both made in 1961. Puablo Armado illustrates the Cuban people's determination to defend the revolution, in which Ivens follows a brigade of volunteering soldiers.
Cuban composer Harold Gramatgès was responsible for the original score to both documentaries and a small series of additional Cuban documentaries from the same era. His music for the travelogue is better in context, as the music is more freely in interpretation, but his music for Puablo Armado is regrettably less interesting.
Gramatgès wrote music using 'local' guitar plucking, a dwelling woodwind, and some orchestral sounds, including a brass (fanfare) and military, snare drums, cymbals, and other percussion. In context, the military-driven musical elements and solo guitar plucking are certainly the most functioning assets of the score. The unfulfilling use of the brass fanfare, undergoing various renditions, is sometimes presented with further orchestral elements such as strings and woodwinds. Still, these, alike other ingredients of the score, have the air of old-fashioned pointlessness, seen from a dramatic point of view.
Seeing Puablo Armado as a document of its time, the small array of Cuban songs functions better than the majority of the original score.
(19-10-2026)
At the beginning of the 1960s, the Dutch filmmaker undertook several journeys to Cuba, which resulted in one travelogue (....À Valparaíso) and one (almost) fully propaganda Puablo Armado (Pueblo en armas, A People in Arms) documentary, both made in 1961. Puablo Armado illustrates the Cuban people's determination to defend the revolution, in which Ivens follows a brigade of volunteering soldiers.
Cuban composer Harold Gramatgès was responsible for the original score to both documentaries and a small series of additional Cuban documentaries from the same era. His music for the travelogue is better in context, as the music is more freely in interpretation, but his music for Puablo Armado is regrettably less interesting.
Gramatgès wrote music using 'local' guitar plucking, a dwelling woodwind, and some orchestral sounds, including a brass (fanfare) and military, snare drums, cymbals, and other percussion. In context, the military-driven musical elements and solo guitar plucking are certainly the most functioning assets of the score. The unfulfilling use of the brass fanfare, undergoing various renditions, is sometimes presented with further orchestral elements such as strings and woodwinds. Still, these, alike other ingredients of the score, have the air of old-fashioned pointlessness, seen from a dramatic point of view.
Seeing Puablo Armado as a document of its time, the small array of Cuban songs functions better than the majority of the original score.
(19-10-2026)