Product Details

• Actors: Ralph Stanley, Emmylou Harris, Compay Segundo, Ibrahim Ferrer, Rubén González
• Directors: Chris Hegedus, D.A. Pennebaker, Nick Doob, Wim Wenders
• Writers: Wim Wenders
• Producers: Bob Neuwirth, Deepak Nayar, Ethan Coen
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rating: G (General Audience)
• Studio: Lions Gate
• DVD Release Date: April 23, 2002
• Run Time: 203 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0000639F4
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #144,299 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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  Movies & TV > Music Video & Concerts > Artists > Buena Vista Social Club

• For more information about "Down from the Mountain / Buena Vista Social Club" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

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

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars I wish I was a Carnegie in '98 to See them, May 17, 2004

By	Angelo M. Sanchez (Richmond, Texas United States) - See all my reviews

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!!!

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Arte en su esencia, February 7, 2006

By	Hugo L. Hernandez "Sonero" (VA, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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

11 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars lo mejor de lo mejor, July 6, 2002

By	Mario Flores Pineda (el salvador) - See all my reviews

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.