Nosotros La Música (1964) Documentaries – Resources
A landmark Cuban documentary directed by Rogelio París presenting a panorama of popular Cuban music in the early post-Revolution years. Features some of the most important musicians of the era performing in their prime.
Documentary
What It Covers
Directed by Rogelio París for ICAIC (Cuba's national film institute), the film captures performances and interviews across Cuban popular music styles — son, guaguancó, danzón, guaracha — featuring artists who were at the center of Cuban musical life in the 1950s and early 1960s. It's as much a historical document as a documentary.
The performers include Bola de Nieve, Celeste Mendoza, Elena Burke, the Charanga Francesa, the Septeto Ignacio Piñeiro and several carnival comparsas from Havana, in a mix of Free Cinema and musical revue. One highlight is Celeste Mendoza's guaguancó in a Havana lot. It was Rogelio París's first documentary for the ICAIC (66 minutes). Almost four decades later the Cuban Cinemateca rediscovered it, and in 2002 it received a Palomas award at the Havana Festival of New Latin American Cinema.
Why Dancers Should Watch It
The musicians in this film are the direct predecessors of timba. Watching how they play — the rhythmic interaction, the feel of the clave in every gesture — shows you what Cuban musicians consider the essential qualities of the music. For a dancer trying to understand the deep aesthetic of Cuban rhythm, this is primary source material from the generation that passed the tradition to the next.