The SoCalled Movie at SXSW
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
By Ezra Glinter March 17, 2010
It’s hard to articulate what makes Canadian artist SoCalled special. To say, as I did in a recent article, that he blends klezmer with hip hop, hardly does him justice. To add that he plays the accordion and performs magic tricks makes him sound like something of a sideshow. None of this conveys the way in which he is able to take the contributions of virtuoso musicians in a dozen different genres and meld them into something uniquely his own. Fortunately, thanks to Montreal director Garry Beitel, there is a now a film that better conveys what SoCalled is all about.
Having followed SoCalled around, camera in hand, for the better part of the last three years, Beitel unveiled “The SoCalled Movie” on March 16 at the South by Southwest music festival, where it was launched on YouTube’s new video rental site.
The film is comprised of a series of short vignettes documenting different aspects of SoCalled’s life and career – concerts across Canada, Europe and the U.S.; demonstrations of his sampling techniques; tours through his Montreal apartment and childhood home in Chelsea, Quebec; a klezmer cruise he helped organize along the Dnieper River; a show he did at the X-rated Montreal movie theater, Cinema L’Amour; and his work with everyone from funk trombonist Fred Wesley to classical cellist Matt Haimovitz. Along the way there’s a short film created by SoCalled himself, a shout-out to the weekly Montreal bluegrass night where he found vocalist Katie Moore, and a brief appearance by yours truly in the audience of his 2007 Pop Montreal show.
Watch the trailer for “The SoCalled Movie” below, or cough up 99 cents to see the whole thing here.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
