Sound and vision: Ry Cooder and Wim Wenders
DAVID BITHER; PHOTO 12/ALAMYSTOCK PHOTO
RY and I had known each other since the late ’70s. In 1997 we made End Of Violence together and it just so happened that Ry had come back from his first trip to Havana. I found him strangely unconcentrated while recording the score. He’d often just sit and look into the distance, so eventually I asked him what was wrong. He said, “In my mind I’m still in Havana. I probably just did the best work of my life there.” He gave me an unmixed rough tape of the first Buena Vista Social Club sessions. That evening I drove home and put the cassette into my car’s player. What I heard blew my mind.