‘Buena Vista Social Club’ is an Encounter at the End of “World Music”

Wim Wenders’ Buena Vista Social Club, the beloved music documentary about a late-90s revival of midcentury Cuban son music, was a byproduct of collaboration, fortuitous timing and sheer coincidence. Wenders first sought record producer and guitar player Ry Cooder as a creative counterpart for his 1982 U.S. debut Hammett. But when producers balked at the…