Buena Vista Social Club, the Oscar-nominated 1999 documentary which recorded musician Ry Cooder's re-gathering of a band of Cuban musicians is soon to have a sequel.
Directed by Lucy Walker (Waste Land), Buena Vista Social Club - Adios will begin filming in July and will focus on the band's five original members on tour.
According to Variety, the film will explore their personal and professional lives over the past 16 years, scaling up to a series of homecoming concerts in Havana,
The acclaimed German director Wim Wenders directed the original Buena Vista Social Club film which was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 2000 Oscars and grossed over $23 million (over €19m) worldwide. The film got its appealing title from the name of a Havana club which had shut its doors in the 1940s.
In the early nineties, Ry Cooder, working with Cuban band-leader Juan de Marcos Gonzalez began to re-assemble a group of musicians who had played at the eponymous music club. The result was Buena Vista Social Club, the first album in a series of albums from the various personnel involved, including solo projects which sold in their millions.
Recorded in just six days in 1996, that first signature album was awarded a Grammy in 1997 and has sold well in excess of 6 million copies to date. The album introduced the world to Cuban Son, as well as re-launching the careers of Compay Segundo, Ibrahim Ferrer, Ruben Gonzalez and Omar Portaundo, but this time outside of their native island. Rising on the a wave of interest around the world, the band subsequently played concerts in Amsterdam and at New York City's Carnegie Hall.
Earlier this year March, Buena Vista Social Club released Lost and Found, a collection of previously unreleased tracks dating back to the first sessions for the 1997 LP, with additional studio and live tracks recorded afterwards.
"Over the years, we were often asked what unreleased material was left in the vaults," declares Nick Gold who heads up World Circuit label which has released all the Buena Vista material.
"We knew of some gems, favourites amongst the musicians, but we were always too busy working on the next project to go back and see what else we had. When we eventually found the time, we were astonished at how much wonderful music there was."
