The art of Bebo

Homage to Bebo Valdés

“I think Chico is not Bebo,” he says. “Chico is a tribute to all the Cuban musicians of that era. You can find things from Bebo, you can find things from Ruben Gonzalez, or this generation of guys, some of them stayed in Cuba, some of them left. Chico is both of these things: he goes to America, but then in the end he has to go back to Cuba, so he participates in both these kind of lives. But if Bebo had not been such an important part of my life all these years, then maybe this movie would not exist. I wrote parts of the script with Bebo’s music in my head. He has been a strong inspiration, and then our score is by him, and we’re going to dedicate the movie to him. So the spirit of Bebo is all over Chico & Rita.”
Towards the end of the film, Chico gets a new lease of life when flamenco singer Estrella Morente arrives in Havana, looking to discover authentic original talent for a musical collaboration. Trueba was able to persuade the real-life flamenco star, who has been performing since the age of seven, to participate in the film.
He says, “I’ve loved Estrella since she was very young. She has one foot in the 19th century and one in the 21st century; she doesn’t belong to the 20th century. She’s so profound and so ancestral and at the same time so modern. It was beautiful to have her as a real character and a real person in the film.”