Chiarelli talks about the big house

Posted Feb 16, 2012 By Michael J Brethour

EMC Entertainment - Belleville - Music from the Big House will resonate throughout the friendly city next month.

Three time Maple Blues Awards nominee Rita Chiarelli, will kick off Belleville's first international Documentary Film Festival, Downtown DocFest, at The Empire Theatre on March 2.

Beginning with her acclaimed film, Music from the Big House, the screening will be followed by a performance of the soundtrack music by Chiarelli.

A little bit more than a decade ago, Chiarelli, armed with a six-string and a bluesy, window-rattling voice, set out on a pilgrimage to visit the birthplace of the blues. It brought her to the Louisiana State Maximum Security Penitentiary known as Angola Prison.

She never imagined that her love of the blues would lead her to a historic jail house performance with inmates serving life sentences for murder, rape, and armed robbery.

"When I heard the music I thought wow, this is amazing," commented Chiarelli in a phone interview with the EMC last Monday. "Really soulful, that's a really honest way to describe the music."

Canadian director Bruce McDonald chronicles her attempts to arrange a prison concert featuring Chiarelli alongside an array of men with beautiful voices and checkered pasts. Music from the Big House is described as being a testament of the power of music, but more than that, a moving and unforgettable exploration of forgiveness and humanity.

Talking to Chiarelli from Edmonton where she was taking care of promotional appearances and other niceties of the present tour, she reflected on her experience making the film and soundtrack.

She said the first idea was to perform for the inmates, and then the epiphany came to perform with the inmates of the prison.

"It was a way better idea to perform with the inmates," she said.

Chiarelli said the experience opened her eyes to the realities of prison life and the path that lands individuals behind bars.

"Social injustice and poverty, sometimes it is not always bad people that do these things that land them behind bars. The law is very severe in Louisiana. It's a tough place to be, there is a lot of poverty down there, a lot of social injustice," she said.

That said, Chiarelli was realistic noting that she was well aware of the type of men that were inmates at the prison.

"There are bad asses in there, there is no question about that, death row and maximum security inmates, but there are also people that were in the wrong place at the wrong time or victims of social injustice," she said. "It has opened my mind a little bit more to how things happen to people. Little questions have arisen in my mind and some of them are still unanswered."

But surrounded by the armed guards and atmosphere of a maximum security prison, one had to ask if the scene made her somewhat nervous while recording the ambitious venture.

"You do think about the fact that you are in a maximum security prison, but when you start working on things you kind of almost forget that that you are working with heavy duty inmates," she said. "A lot of them were in for violent crimes. The inmates I performed with were ones that earned special privileges for good behaviour."

But as the project progressed a kind of magic overtook, infecting Chiarelli and the crew.

"It was all so magical, getting the whole thing done was almost a surreal experience. I know that for the crew, they left with very, very deep emotion, but getting the project done overall overran any other thoughts," she said.

Overall the experience was a milestone for her as a musician she said.

"It's something that changes you forever. It's almost like an emotional breakdown, the film makes you really think about a lot of things but for me it has opened my heart a bit more ...," she said.

Chiarelli will perform after the screening of her film, a performance she noted will contain music from her extensive collection as well as music from the film's soundtrack.

"We just try to put on a great concert is what we try to do," she said.

DownTown DocFest will screen more than 30 international, national and local films over the weekend of March 2 and 3.

Films will be screened starting at noon on Friday, March 2, at the Core Centre's three theatre venues prior to the gala opening at The Empire Theatre. On Saturday, March 3, starting at noon, documentaries will continue screening at the Core Centre and the Belleville Public Library. The Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario has graciously provided start-up funding.

Film selection, scheduling and further funding announcements will be released on < www.downtowndocfest.ca>.

For more information, call 613-477-1264, cell 613849-1976 or e-mail < lattalad@gmail.com>or < info@downtowndocfest.ca>.