I watched "Buena Vista Social Club," a film directed by Wim Wenders with music produced by Ry Cooder. Ry Cooder had gone to Cuba in 1997 and produced a CD by some of the greats of Cuban music. Some of the musicians had been forgotten in their own country, and they were excited to play again. Cooder went back to Cuba to work again with these musicians. In this film they tell about how they got started playing music. They all started playing at young ages. Ibrahim Ferrer was an amazing singer. It is a wonderful thing to hear him singing with Omara Ochoa. Eliades Ochoa was twelve years old when he started playing his guitar on the streets in the red light district to earn money to help his family. Ruben Gonzalez started playing the piano when he was seven. It is fortunate that they were able to get these musicians together do record the CD, and to perform concerts together. They performed first in Amsterdam then at Carnegie Hall. It is very good that we have this record of their backgrounds. It is sad that most of the performers who played and spoke are probably are no longer living, but they live on in these recordings and other CD's they recorded. They show it is not material possessions that are really important. They were all very rich in talent, and they were generous in sharing their talent with others.
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