Portrait of Ignacio Perez

Portrait of Ignacio PerezJomo Kenyatta

Portrait of Ignacio Perez
Portrait of Ignacio Perez

From the moment I saw the documentary "Buena Vista Social Club",  I yearned to capture on paper the images, the spirits, of those marvelous old Cuban musicians! Some were in their 80s and I knew time was of essence. But sadly, I never did pursue it. How many of them are alive today, I am not sure.  I can give you reasons why I didn't, but you know it really came down to the fact that I didn't have the guts to do it. Not knowing the language, not having the money, the difficulty in traveling to Cuba--all good reason but not insurmountable. I could have, I should have, but I didn't.

The dream that took hold in the late 90s resurfaced during a family trip to Guatemala in the winter of 2007.  My oldest son Travis, while wandering the cobbled streets of Antigua one night, found a poster about Ignacio Perez, a former member of the Buena Vista Social Club, who would be playing that night at a local club. Having remembered my dream, Travis found the nightclub and during a break asked the gentleman if I, Travis's mother, could draw a portrait of him in the morning--which Senor Perez agreed to! So the next day, as I was waking up, Travis standing over me, said "Mom, you're going to draw a portrait of a member of the Buena Vista Social Club this morning!" It all seemed crazy, but about 45 minutes later, the man met us at the restaurant

 


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