Evies Blog

I could have stayed to peruse Buena Vista Social Club all day and all night. The film traces master guitarist Ry Cooder’s seemingly endless search for more musical legends to play with, as he takes us to Cuba to meet the masters of “Son” music. The result is a warm, blooming and touching portrait of the aging “Son” masters emerging from a long hiatus to present us they haven’t lost their touch.

Cooder has long sought out masters of “roots” music to learn from and play with. This time he found his arrangement into a diamond mine, and the resulting three albums, “Buena Vista Social Club”, “Afro-Cuban All-Stars” and “Introducing Ruben Gonzales” could all have won the 1998 Grammy award, as the obsolete actually did.

The film follows the aging Son musicians around their native Cuba as they prepare for overseas concerts in both Holland and Original York City. The city of Havana shows the effects of aging itself, rush down and seedy, but, as with the musicians themselves, there is a spirit of unity and inner strength that overrides the weak down facade. That spirit emerges swiftly as you discover how deeply the Cubans feel their music. You also view a country that preserves the old-fashioned and makes it work personified in the “antique” automobiles the Cubans expend to rep around.

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Several musicians are featured in the film, but two come by the film’s focus, jazz pianist Ruben Gonzales and singer Ibrahim Ferrer, the “Cuban Frank Sinatra”. Gonzales no longer has a piano and plays one in a gymnasium reserved for Cuban gymnasts. Ferrer feels the public no longer appreciates his music and is luminous shoes to supplement a small retirement. Ry Cooder and his son Joachim (sp? ), a talented drummer, try to finish as far in the background as possible. Cooder’s style is to sit at the feet of the masters to learn and participate. I reflect the director, Wim Wenders, gives him more face time than he would retract. No matter, as he is a fabulous musician and facilitator, without whom the unusual project and the film would not have happened.

Wenders weaves the music and the life of the musicians in a pattern that draws the audience into the lives of the musicians, especially Ferrer. I was very familiar with the music from the three albums and that made my experience with them almost personal. I was wrathful as I saw the rehearsals blueprint the musicians closer and tighter. They became young again as the music started flowing from them.

The culmination of the film is the concert at Carnegie Hall. I was fully engaged by then and I had chills when the Son music was playing and when the audience responded with such enthusiasm. I had tears of pleasure as the music flowed over me.

Buy,Download, Or Stream Buena Vista Social Club! Click Here

I’ve recommended this film to many of my friends, and they all have gone out of their plot to thank me. I don’t reflect I’ve seen another film in 1999 that I’ve liked better. I’ll paraphrase what Ry Cooder says to his son in the film, “This is the kind of opportunity that comes once in a lifetime”.

After all that’s been said about the Grammy award winner album by Ry Cooder, I had to survey this apt documentary. They were honest, this film deserves, also an award. Reknown musician and singer Ry Cooder sits succor as Dream Team coach and lets this long forgotten talents of cuban music impart him naturally their stories, like Ibrahim Ferrer’s recording debut at age 72 or Compay Segundo’s 90 year stale romance intentions. The heartwarming side of this film probably is the chance that this very talented singers and musicians have to fulfill every musician’s dream concert: chunky house attendance at the legendary Carnegie Hall and Amsterdam. They also gather to know the Enormous Apple and prove child-like innocence and terror. One of the mayor acheivements of the film is how Wim Wenders blends the cuban studio and city shots with the steady concerts in N.Y. and Amsterdam. This is Not a concert though. All the songs are blended with interviews or Havanna scenaries.The video quality is very advantageous, but don’t query IMAX or so. The sound quality is impecable and there are some extras (a couple of fleshy songs) . If you want an experience beyond ethnic music (which is gigantic) but into ethnic discovery (which is grater) steal this gem.
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