Buena Vista Social Club (film)
| Buena Vista Social Club | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Wim Wenders |
| Written by | Wim Wenders |
| Produced by | Rosa Bosch Ulrich Felsberg Deepak Nayar |
| Starring | Luis Barzaga Joachim Cooder Ry Cooder Juan de Marcos González Julio Alberto Fernández Ibrahim Ferrer Carlos González Rubén González Salvador Repilado Labrada Pío Leyva Manuel "Puntillita" Licea Orlando "Cachaito" López Benito Suárez Magana Manuel "Guajiro" Mirabal Eliades Ochoa Omara Portuondo Julienne Oviedo Sánchez Compay Segundo Barbarito Torres Alberto 'Virgilio' Valdés Amadito Valdés Lázaro Villa |
| Edited by | Monica Anderson Brian Johnson |
Release date | February 17 1999 (Berlin International Film Festival) |
Running time | 105 min. |
| Language | English / Spanish |
Buena Vista Social Club (1999) is a documentary film by Wim Wenders about the music of Cuba. It is named for the Buena Vista Social Club in Havana, a hotspot for Cuban music in the 1940s.
The film documents how Ry Cooder, long-time friend of Wenders, brought together legendary Cuban musicians to record an album (also called Buena Vista Social Club), and to perform a concert in the United States. Although they are geographically close, travel between Cuba and the United States is restricted due to the political tension between the two countries, so many of the artists were travelling there for the first time. The film shows their reactions to this experience, as well as including footage of the resultant sell-out concert. It also includes interviews with each of the main performers.
It made the musicians, some of them already in their nineties, known to a world-wide audience, and some went on to release popular solo albums; these included Ibrahim Ferrer, Compay Segundo, Rubén González and Elíades Ochoa.
The film was nominated for an Academy Award for best documentary feature in 2000. It won as best documentary in the European Film Awards as well as many others. The album Buena Vista Social Club features studio versions of the music heard in the movie.
Musicians (in order of appearance)
- Francisco Repilado, aka Compay Segundo (vocals and tres)
- Eliades Ochoa (vocals and guitar)
- Ry Cooder (slide guitar)
- Joachim Cooder, his son (percussion)
- Ibrahim Ferrer (vocals, congas, claves, bongos)
- Omara Portuondo (vocals)
- Rubén González (piano)
- Orlando "Cachaito" López (Double bass)
- Amadito Valdés
- Manuel "Guajiro" Mirabal (trumpet)
- Barbarito Torres (laud)
- Pío Leyva
- Manuel "Puntillita" Licea (vocals)
- Juan de Marcos González (güiro)
Songs in the film (in order of appearance)
- "Chan Chan" (Francisco Repilado)
- "Silencio" (Rafael Hernandez)
- "Chattanooga Choo Choo" (Harry Warren and Mack Gordon)
- "Dos Gardenias" (Isolina Carillo)
- "Veinte Años" (María Teresa Vera),
- "Y Tu Que Has Hecho" (Eusebio Delfin),
- "Black Bottom" (Ray Henderson, Lew Brown and B. G. De Sylva)
- "Canto Siboney" (Ernesto Lecuona),
- "El Carretero" (Guillermito Portulez)
- "Cienfuegos (tiene su guaguanco)" (Victor Lay)
- "Begin The Beguine" (Cole Porter)
- "Buena Vista Social Club" (Orestes Lopez, inventor of the mambo in 1937)
- "Mandinga" (also known as "Bilongo", Guillermo Rodriguez Fiffe)
- "Candela" (Faustino Oramas),
- "Chanchullo" (Israel "Cachao" Lopez, the father of Cachaito)
- "El cuarto de Tula" (son/descarga, Sergo Siaba),
- "Guateque Campesino" (Celia Romeo "Guateque"),
- "Nuestra Ultima Cita" (Forero Esther)
- "Quizás, Quizás, Quizás" (boléro by Oswaldo Farres).