Arquivo

A tribute to the Los Zafiros musical group, likened to Cuban Beatles in the sixties. They won the public with music that combined elements of rumba, rhythm and blues, bolero, doo-wop, calypso, bossa nova, and the heritage of rich Cuban music. In spite of the success and the international renown, the Cold War prevented them from ever playing in the U.S.. The film shows a re-encounter of two surviving members of the group, Manuel Galbán – who lives in Havana today – and Miguel Cancio. Thirty years after the band broke up, Cancio goes to Havana to make the film. He is enthused and apprehensive, for he has lived in Miami with his children for ten years. Galbán and Cancio visit persons and places that were landmarks for the group. The other three members of the group, Kike, Chino, and Ignácio led a life of excess – mainly alcoholic – and died prematurely. These abuses were the main factor that contributed to an end to the group who lost out for a lack of professional bearing on the part of the members and because of the problems they caused during tours. Galbán comments on his friends: "I couldn’t stand to see them as they were at the end. I think about them a great deal, of the things they did and said; they never grew mature; they were like kids with a great big heart. They were born to sing, only they just didn?t know how to live".