by Felicia Mello
The Best of Latino Cinemagastos Newyorrican percussionist John Santos plays congas during the grand kickoff of the International Latino Film Festival in San Francisco. At left, the photo of legendary musician Israel ‘Cachao’ López. (photo by Dania P. Maxwell)
Cuban musician extraordinaire Israel “Cachao” López may have passed away this year, but his spirit was alive and kicking at Friday’s opening of the International Latino Film Festival in San Francisco. Hundreds packed the Castro Theater for a screening of “Cachao: Uno Mas,” a documentary celebrating the life of the Grammy winning bassist known internationally as the father of the mambo.
It was the first of dozens of films in languages from Mapuche to Portuguese and, of course, Spanish and English—that will show throughout the Bay Area over the next two weeks as part of the twelfth annual festival.
“We have accomplished our mission: we brought together filmmakers from all over Latin America and the United States and defined the festival as a crossroads where all this talent can develop,” festival director Sylvia Perel told the crowd.
A collaboration of professional filmmakers and film students at San Francisco State, “Cachao: Uno Mas” alternates concert footage of López with intimate conversations between the maestro and other musicians inspired by his work, including actor and conga player Andy Garcia, who co-produced the film. Audience members at the Castro couldn’t resist clapping and singing along.
López grew up in a musical family and began playing the bass as a child in 1926. He and his brother, Orestes López, took traditional Cuban danzón music and jazzed it up to appeal to a new generation, spawning the mambo craze that swept the world.
“It was only when we were sleeping that we weren’t playing music,” López says at one point during the film, describing weeklong descargas, or jam sessions, where he and other musicians would camp out in the woods to play. A Beethoven fan, López combined Western classical influences with an understanding of the importance of rhythm in Afro-Cuban music.
“Cachao to us is like Louis Armstrong to jazz players,” said local Latin percussionist John Santos, who appears in the fi lm and performed at a post-screening party at the Kabuki Hotel. “He allowed percussionists to shine by taking them from the back of the orchestra, putting them in front and letting them take solos.
At the party, guests grooved to the infectious beat of the congas while Santos and his group dedicated songs to Cachao and even one to Barack Obama.
The festival runs through November 23 and will include a tribute to director Gregory Nava, whose groundbreaking 1983 film El Norte educated Americans, including thousands of California schoolchildren, about the immigrant experience.
“We celebrate that fi lm as one that showed for the fi rst time an image of immigrants with humanity and dignity,” said Perel. “It is as current today as ever before.”
For more information, visit www.latinofilmfestival.org.
