Down from the Mountain / Buena Vista Social Club

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Down from the Mountain
If you love the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, D.A. Pennebaker, Chris Hegedus, and Nick Doob's exhilarating concert film Down from the Mountain will be sheer heaven. And if you're new to bluegrass and "old-time mountain-style" music, the performances will be a revelation. John Hartford, Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, Gillian Welch, the Cox family, the venerable Ralph Stanley, and other traditional and alt-country artists who contributed the music to the Coen brothers' spaced odyssey gathered onstage in May 2000 at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium to benefit the Country Music Hall of Fame. Interviews and rehearsal footage set the stage for this stupendous concert, highlights of which include "(Didn't Leave) Nobody but the Baby" by the sirens Harris, Welch, and Krauss; the Coxes' "(Will There Be) Any Stars in My Crown"; and Stanley's haunting "O Death." As one performer recommends, "Just ease in, sit down, and listen." It could be your salvation. --Donald Liebenson

Buena Vista Social Club
In 1996, composer, producer, and guitar legend Ry Cooder entered Egrem Studios in Havana with the forgotten greats of Cuban music, many of them in their 60s and 70s, some of them long since retired. The resulting album, Buena Vista Social Club, became a Grammy-winning international bestseller. When Cooder returned to Havana in 1998 to record a solo album by 72-year-old vocalist Ibrahim Ferrer, filmmaker Wim Wenders was on hand to document the occasion. Wenders splits the film between portraits of the performers, who tell their stories directly to the camera as they wander the streets and neighborhoods of Havana, and a celebration of the music heard in performance scenes in the studio, in their first concert in Amsterdam, and in their second and final concert at Carnegie Hall. The songs are too often cut short in this fashion, but Buena Vista Social Club is not a concert film. Wenders weaves the artist biographies with a glimpse of modern Cuba remembering its past, capturing a lost culture in music that is suddenly, unexpectedly revived for audiences in Havana and around the world. It's a loving portrait of a master class in Cuban music, with a vital cast of aging performers whose energy and passion belie their years. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews:

Arte en su esencia.......2006-02-08

Este es una experiencia unica, si eres un amante de la musica y el arte. Es increible lo que estos seres humanos pueden hacer con tan pocos medios, la unica explicacion que yo puedo encontrar es su amor a la musica

I wish I was a Carnegie in '98 to See them.......2004-05-18

I wish was could have been a Carnegie Hall in '98 to see this group. I watched this DVD with tears in my eyes because I knew this was era and a set of legends that will fade into time. I will try to teach my children of their contribution to the spirit of music in my life time and a culmination Afro-Cuban but most of all the spirit of the Americas!!!

Poor Camera and Audio work Diminishes Documentary.......2003-05-13

Unfortunately, the filmmakers failed to follow a few cardinal rules: #1- Don't move the camera incessantly unless absolutely necessary. #2- Don't zoom in and out on a subject. #3- Audio is what often keeps people watching a film; therefore, audio quality is very very important.

I love the CD, I am a big fan of the music and even play it, yet the over-use of the StediCam (a camera mounting device that allows for smooth, steady camera operation of a hand-held camera) is at times dizzying.

Lastly, at times they pay little attention to the music. Some of the scenes (such as the piano player with the ballet class) are contrived. One can only imagine what it was like to be interviewed as the camera person circled you endlessly.

I am so disappointed by this DVD that all I can say is buy the CD and forget this film was ever made. The only reason I don't give it a "1" is because that's unfair. My criticisms are stylistic; however, they do render the film difficult to near impossible to watch.

lo mejor de lo mejor.......2002-07-07

es una fina muestra de la incomparable musica cubana, a la que la mayoria de nosotros no tenemos acceso. este es una obra maetra de la musica universal, contemporaneadelicada y deliciosa. musicalmente tiene ritmo, cadencia, cuerpo y melodia. si te gusta la buena musica, este dvd es un deber.

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