Reel Music: fake guitars

The Reel Music Festival, entering its second weekend at the Northwest Film Center’s Whitsell Auditorium, is a celebration and exploration of the merging of two mediums. Film and music can meet in many ways, from documentary to performance footage to music video, and the Reel Music Festival, running all the way through the first weekend of February, runs the gamut from ancient church music to one man’s attempt to revive the accordion to a film about guys who don’t actually play any instrument at all.

One film this Saturday should absolutely not be missed: a film about competitive air guitar.

Air Guitar Nation chronicles the rise of the United States’ first national air guitar champion and his eventual journey to a remote village in northern Finland to compete in the Air Guitar World Championships. It’s a study of how a pastime usually confined to Van Halen fans’ bedrooms can emerge onto a stage in front of 5,000 people with, as one contestant put it, “the largest amps I’ve ever seen for a concert with no instruments.”

For such campy subject matter, the film is surprisingly straight-laced, letting the contestants, and their riffage, speak for themselves. It’s a film that could have been overblown, but instead captures something about what causes people to do something seemingly completely stupid in front of a crowd of total strangers.

But something else emerges as the stakes get higher. The contestants discover that their pursuit of airness has evolved from a bit of fun in a bar above a strip club to something more, well, serious. Reigning champ David “C-Diddy” Jung’s life becomes truly bizarre as he emerges from anonymity to become America’s ambassador of air. There are the fans, the intensive “air guitar camp,” and then there’s the relentless pursuit of his arch air guitar rival, Dan “”Bjorn Turoque” Crane.

Also worth checking out is Matt and Erica Hinton’s Awake, My Soul: The Story of the Sacred Harp. The film’s slow pace and lengthy shots of Southern geriatrics reminiscing about their youths can be hard to follow, but it succeeds in immersing the viewer in a deeply-rooted and uniquely American musical culture. Sacred Harp music, a cappella church music that began in the 18th century, uses a simple scale and is sung in rounds, creating booming melodies with haunting harmonies. Awake, My Soul shows how the largely forgotten genre’s roots extend deep into the Middle Ages, and capture amazing recordings of the style in churches all over the American South.

Jon Hendricks: The Freddie Sessions, while being disorganized as a film, captures fantastic performances from jazz vocalist greats Al Jarreau, George Benson, and Bobby McFerrin, as they record Hendricks’ version of Miles Davis’ classic Freddie Freeloader. If you’re not familiar with vocalese, Hendricks’ signature style of composing lyrics to instrumental jazz melodies, Freddie Sessions is worth checking out, just to see Hendricks’ amazing scat duet with McFerrin.

What: The 24th Reel Music FestivalWhere: Whitsell Auditorium 1219 S.W. Park Ave.When: Until Feb. 15How Much: $7 general / $6 students

Friday, Jan. 12

7 p.m.

Accordion Tribe

Dir: Stefan Schweitert

9 p.m.

Rural Rock and Roll

Dir: Jensen Rufe

Saturday, Jan. 13

6:30 p.m.

The Sound of Soul: The Fez Festival of World Sacred Music

Dir: Stephen Olsson

Fandango, Searching for the White Monkey

Dir: Ricardo Baraojos

9:15 p.m.

Air Guitar Nation

Dir: Alexandra Lipsitz

Sunday, Jan. 14

4 p.m.

Awake, My Soul: The Story of the Sacred Harp

Dir: Matt Hinton and Erica Hinton

7 p.m.

Home, Charles Lloyd and Billy Higgins

Dir: Dorothy Darr

Jon Hendricks: The Freddy Sessions

Dir: Jeff Feuerzeig

For more information visit:

www.nwfilm.org