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About Yomo Toro Documentary

THE KING OF THE CUATRO

Cuatro Yomo toro
From Ensenada, Guánica in Puerto Rico to the world’s greatest stages. “King of the Cuatro” is a three-part documentary about the beloved, Puerto Rican guitar & cuatro player Victor Guillermo Toro well known internationally as Yomo Toro.

The documentary is currently in the pre-production stage and is scheduled to start filming in April 2022 through 2024. The anticipated release date is scheduled for December 2024.
 
  • Episode I (The King) will focus on his personal life. From playing in La Bandita De La Escuela ("The Little School Band") to getting involved with important artists such as Arsenio Rodriguez, Willie Colon, Fania All-Stars, Ruben Blades, Harry Belafonte, Paul Simon, Linda Ronstadt, David Byrne, Emilio and Gloria Estefan, and many other celebrities that shared his music. The documentary will show his childhood, inspiration, awards, friends, and many of the 150 albums recorded throughout a 60-year career and will be narrated and described by the people who were part of his life and by a great number of celebrities who shared his music and historical moments
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  • Episode II (Ten Strings) will focus on the development of his music. The episode will give facts, information, and highlights about the popular music maker who in 1971 introduced the musical instrument “THE CUATRO” into the world-famous music genre SALSA. Many of Toro's lyrics were arranged in 10-line verses called Decimas, a poetic Spanish form that was popular as early as the 17th century. The episode will explore how he preserved the traditional Puerto Rican sound known as MUSICA JIBARA a folkloric music that is buoyant, romantic, humorous, and extremely life-affirming from Puerto Rico.
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  • Episode III (The Calvary) will focus on his legacy, his influence on generations to come, And his last moments. Yomo Toro participated in a few films such as Bananas from Woody Allen one of the funniest films of the 70s and Crossover Dreams with Ruben Blades.
 
The “King of the Cuatro” will give the viewer access to the life of an exceptional artist and exotics environments by attaching Yomo Toro’s power of his story to reality and by creating a deeper level of understanding of a part of the Latin culture with the purposes of instruction, and education for maintaining a historical record.

DOCUMENTARY OBJECTIVES

It will have a time duration of no less than 45 mins per episode. Through interviews and the use of rare (and largely unseen) historical film footage, photos, and other archival material and produced scenes, the documentary Yomo Toro “King of the Cuatro” will describe the life of a man who took the cuatro (a folklore Puerto Rican 10 strings instrument) to its highest of popularity making it common for generations to come. Even though there are other musicians who also play the traditional instrument the cuatro from Puerto Rico, Yomo Toro has gained the honor of introducing it to the world as well as rescuing it.
 
Following a brief overview of the roots of Jibaro music, dating back to the 1930s the year Yomo Toro was born, the story will be told through the testimonies of those people (Guests) who are familiar with his music style and his achievements. The film will document and recreate the major spotlights of the artist; using interviews to be filmed, a narrator, and scenes created for special situations about his life, while visiting Puerto Rico, New York, and several other locations.  
 
These interviews will lend extra power to the historical footage of Yomo Toro's concerts and a great number of memories. We will use archival footage, audio recordings of his music, and commentary by those who knew him and were profoundly influenced by his unique style and commitment to his work and culture. Journalists, writers, and historians will also be interviewed to provide sufficient context and discussion of the issues engendered by and events surrounding them.
 
Yomo Toro King of the Cuatro will capture the universality of his experiences and illustrate the many ways in which music was and remains a powerful medium for social change. This documentary will ultimately reveal the ability of music in general, and folk music made by a left-hander player as Yomo Toro to express the shared hopes and dreams of people everywhere striving to make the world a better place. The best shooting locations will be in Puerto Rico, New York, Miami, and Orlando. It will be full of historic videotape footage as background and special invited guests.

AIRING & DISTRIBUTION

The producers of Yomo Toro “King of the Cuatro” will self-distribute the completed documentary film to festivals, independent television networks and public television stations. Due to the recent popularity and success of theatrically released documentaries and because of the stateof-the-art film and digital formats Yomo Toro “King of the Cuatro” comply with every technical requiring for airing needs. It will be made available to third parties interested in educational use. Yomo Toro “King of the Cuatro” will be a domestic release (USA). Narration and most of the interviews will be conducted in English and will utilize Spanish subtitles in some cases. Since Latin America and Spain are an additional and very important targeted markets it will have a whole subtitled version with a great possibility of making a complete Spanish translation for such significant regions.
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