Take a broad look and listen
America’s Musical Journey goes IMAX.
Singer/songwriter Aloe Blacc was familiar with the nature-filled giant screen work of director Greg MacGillivray, including National Parks Adventure, The Living Sea and To the Arctic.
But Blacc never thought he would be the narrator and guide for MacGillivray’s newest film, America’s Musical Journey, coming to IMAX and giant screens on Feb. 16. The trailer premieres exclusively at USATODAY.com.
“I knew they had done great, epic IMAX films about landscapes and parts of the world that are beautiful to look at,” says Blacc, whose hit song with Avicii, Wake Me Up, is featured. “I didn’t realize they would also do stories on people and music. I thought it was a pretty awesome idea.”
For MacGillivray, Blacc was the perfect guide to showcase America’s rich heritage and explore how a nation of immigrants led the world in musical innovation — from jazz, blues, soul and country to rock ’n’ roll.
“Aloe is a star on the rise with an interesting life story, the child of Panamanian immigrants who brought their culture here with them,” MacGillivray says. “How immigration has added to America’s cultural and creative vitality is one of our main themes.”
Blacc leads viewers to major music cities to explore how America’s “melting pot” was the dynamic foundation for the USA’s many and diverse sounds.
The crew traveled to New Orleans for jazz (taking part in a second-line wedding parade with famed native son Jon Batiste), met Gloria Estefan to discuss Miami’s Latin-influenced music, talked with jazz legend Ramsey Lewis in Chicago, hit Nashville to explore the roots of country music, and, of course, stopped in Memphis to pay respects to Elvis Presley’s Graceland.
Journey illustrates how music is vital to the arts (highlighting Bandaloop, a group of aerial dancers who perform to music on the sides of buildings) and social change — paying homage to the great music revolutionary, Louis Armstrong, one of 20th century’s first popculture icons.
“Louis Armstrong opened the door to so many musicians and people of color by presenting his music and himself in a way that humanized the relationship between blacks and whites,” Blacc says. “He moved us forward beyond the relationship that slavery had established in America and created adoration and adulation.”
Ultimately, the trip around the country reinforced Blacc’s faith at a time when cultural divides are magnified in the media. America’s passion for, and creation of, music is a major shared experience.
“Music is my life — I get to perform across the country before seas of people from different races, creeds, colors and beliefs, singing along to my music,” Blacc says. “We’re really more connected than people know. That comes through in this film.”
The filmmakers succeeded in illustrating music for the giant screen format, despite one problem, Blacc says.
“My face is going to be 40 feet tall on IMAX screens, which is wild. But for telling how music is endemic to our culture and how we developed so many styles, I figured I could make the sacrifice.”