The Sons of Buena Vista®

THE SONS OF BUENA VISTA® are nothing but the legacy of the Buena Vista Social Club®, passed down to a younger generation of world-class musicians who have grown up directly alongside the old Cuban masters. These heirs of deceased legends like Ibrahim Ferrer, Compay Segundo, or Ruben Gonzales carry the unmistakable charm of Cuban classics into the wide world. The Buena Vista Social Club® brought Cuba back onto the world’s musical map. The sequel film “Musica Cubana – THE SONS OF BUENA VISTA®,” presented by Wim Wenders, later gave birth to this new project. Many years after the release of this film, there is now actually a live stage version of it, which will go on tour for the first time in Europe in 2025.

A fusion of today’s Cuban stars and the legacy of the world-famous musical tradition from Cuba! THE SONS OF BUENA VISTA® is a journey into the passionate world of Cuban music. Here, the heart of Cuba, the hopes, longings, love, passions, and joy of its people are palpable as on the first day.

Singer and Grammy winner Mario “Mayito” Rivera, aptly called the “Mick Jagger of Cuba,” is a world-renowned representative of the unique sound of Cuban music. The versatile and always elegantly dressed Rivera, idol of the youth and highly respected as a poet of Rumba, was a member of the supergroup Los Van Van for many years and has worked with the Who’s Who of the Cuban music scene like Isaac Delgado and Alberto Alvarez before joining THE SONS OF BUENA VISTA®. In the movie “Musica Cubana – The Sons of Buena Vista,” he delivered impressive musical performances.

Singer William Borrego Rodriguez founded El Cabildo del Son together with Pancho Amat, a Tres player in the Buena Vista Social Club®, and toured the world as a lead singer with Cuban legends like Silvio Rodriguez and Pablo Milanès. Today, he is a star of the younger generation of Cuban musicians (incidentally, also an excellent trombonist).

Third in the trio: El Nene, whose real name is Pedro Lugo Martinez, shines with his incredibly powerful and melancholic singing. On stage, he appears as a younger version of the world-famous Ibrahim Ferrer (Buena Vista Social Club), whom he not only resembles visually but also toured worldwide with! He learned from the “old masters” how to authentically sing Son Cubano, so convincingly that he even won a Latin Grammy with his group “Los Jovenes del Son.” He also played a significant role and delivered impressive musical passages in Wim Wenders’ movie “Musica Cubana – THE SONS OF BUENA VISTA®.”

Optional: Hiram Riveri, better known as rapper “Ruzzo,” is an outstanding figure in the music scene. Together with the so far most successful Cuban hip-hop group ORISHAS, he has won two Grammy awards and has been nominated for several other awards. With their seven released CDs, they have sold over 1 million copies worldwide, earning themselves a reputation as a true cult in the scene.

IMPORTANT! *For interested organizers, this concert can be offered with an additional screening of the Wim Wenders film “Musica Cubana – The Sons of Buena Vista” on large screens free of charge.

Information About the Film “Musica Cubana – The Sons of Buena Vista“

On May 21, 2006, the film “Wim Wenders presents Musicacubana – The Sons of Buena Vista” premiered at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival, where it was presented by Wim Wenders himself. Later that year, the film received a nomination for the coveted Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.

A year earlier, in 2005, an exclusive press conference for international journalists was held in Havana. Alongside Wim Wenders, who presented the film and explained its background, musicians Pío Leiva, Mayito Rivera, and El Nene were also in attendance. Wenders shared how the success of Buena Vista Social Club had inspired him to undertake another cinematic project about Cuba’s vibrant music scene. He explained:
“While making Buena Vista Social Club, many young Cuban musicians approached us, shared their music, and wanted to be part of it, which unfortunately wasn’t possible. But I realized that there was an incredible wealth of talent not only in the older generation, as shown in our film, but also in Cuban rap, hip-hop, and salsa. Sooner or later, someone had to focus on this younger generation.”

The film was successfully screened in cinemas across 16 countries, and its accompanying soundtrack sold 500,000 copies worldwide. One of the highlights was the major concert performed by the film’s band, held both in Tokyo and Havana.

Following these performances, the original band was renamed Soneros de Verdad (later known as Conexion Cubana) due to legal disputes over the name “The Sons of Buena Vista.” However, after winning a legal case, the band was later able to officially reclaim the name The Sons of Buena Vista®.