Jim Jarmusch gives old-time flamenco cante a role in the soundtrack of the film ‘The Limits of Control’

A petenera by Carmen Linares and a malagueña by Manuel el Sevillano are heard in the film

S.C./Flamenco-world.com, October 2009

Flamenco co-stars in the new movie by Jim Jarmusch. The American filmmaker has not only situated the action at locations in Seville, Madrid and Almería, but has also wrapped it up in the deepest Spanish music: flamenco cante. The film, starring actor Isaach de Bankolé, has a soundtrack including the petenera ‘El que se tenga por grande’ with two versions, one by Carmen Linares and another by Talegón de Córdoba made for the camera next to the dancer La Truco; a wax cylinder recording by Manuel el Sevillano performing the malagueñas ‘Por compasión’; and the saeta ‘La Macarena’.

Talegón and La Truco. 'The limits of control'

In an interview held by Scott Macaulay published on the film’s official website, the director explains that “when I was preparing the film in Spain, I was doing a lot of research into flamenco music. A friend turned me on to a certain form of flamenco called peteneras. It’s a slow form of flamenco that goes back to the 14th century, and it’s oddly enough a taboo form among most flamenco people because it has a long history of bad things happening. It’s kind of shunned”.

The director of films like ‘Coffee & Cigarettes’ adds “I was interested in it being almost the blues version of the flamenco. It’s often about tragic subjects — death, lost love — and I discovered this one particular song that has an incredible existing version by Carmen Linares, one of the most amazing flamenco singers”. Specifically, it’s a cante off the début album ‘Su cante’, from 1984. And the lyrics have a lot of meaning in the movie, which say something like “He who thinks he is bigger than the rest must go to the cemetery, there he will see what life really is”.

Jim Jarmusch with Gael García Bernal and Isaach de Bankolé. 'The limits of control'

He found the malagueña by Manuel el Sevillano on a double CD he was recommended at a store in Madrid, the compilation ‘Cilindros de cera. Primeras grabaciones de flamenco’ (‘Wax Cylinders. First Flamenco Recordings’) - released in 2003 by the Centro Andaluz de Flamenco -, when he asked about the oldest stuff there was. Moreover, he found a role for it in the story: “I even wrote in the dialogue that the guitar in the film is supposed to be the same guitar used by Manuel el Sevillano on the recording”. And the thing is that, according to the filmmaker’s words, “I always have a file of the music I think is right for the atmosphere of each film, and that inspired me even before we started shooting”. That involvement in the soundtrack has made music and musicians renowned internationally. That is the case of Ethiopian Mulatu Astatké, who became world famous after being heard in Jarmusch’s penultimate film, ‘Broken Flowers’.

Flamenco in international cinema

It isn’t the first time that international films have called on flamenco to integrate a soundtrack. Quentin Tarantino had ‘Y tu mirá’ by Lole and Manuel sound in ‘Kill Bill 2’. More recently, Woody Allen chose the very famous ‘Entre dos aguas’ by Paco de Lucía for ‘Vicky Cristina Barcelona’. Not to mention Pedro Almodóvar. If in ‘Volver’ he had a cante by Estrella Morente performing por bulerías the bolero entitling the Oscar-winning film, in ‘Los abrazos rotos’ (‘Broken Embraces’) cantaor Miguel Poveda performs the song ‘A ciegas’.

Isaach de Bankolé. 'The limits of control'