Chan Centre Connects Series: Buena Vista Social Club

Presented by The Chan Centre Connects Series and Pacific Cinémathèque

In 1996, American guitarist Ry Cooder travelled to Havana to record Eliades Ochoa and other traditionalist Cuban musicians in collaboration with musicians from Mali. When visa problems prevented the Malians from making it to Cuba, Cooder salvaged the project by bringing together a number of aging Cuban musicians whose talents had been virtually forgotten in the aftermath of Castro's revolution. The recording became the triumphant Buena Vista Social Club album, released in 1997. This 1999 film, directed by noted German filmmaker Wim Wenders and nominated for an Oscar, captures the legendary Buena Vista Social Club in their lives back in Cuba, in reunion in the recording studio, and in their Carnegie Hall performance in New York. “Moving, uplifting ... A film of ineffable sweetness and glorious music ... An achievement of both music scholarship and passionate humanity” (Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian). 105 mins.

This special screening of Buena Vista Social Club has been organized in conjunction with the Chan Centre’s presentation of the three-time Grammy-nominated Cuban music group Tiempo Libre, who perform at the Chan on Friday, March 9 at 8:00 pm.

The Chan Centre Connects Series presents outreach activities related to visiting artists performing in the annual concert season at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts at UBC.