The fight for Cuban music Tuesday 1 May, 2007 2150 GMT on BBC Two

When Buena Vista Social Club became a huge global hit, Cubans thought they could cash in and make money from their old music.

But as soon as their re-releases hit the shops Peer music - the largest privately owned American music publishing company - took the Cubans to court. They claimed that their founder Ralph Peer had bought the rights to the very same songs way before the Cuban revolution back in the 1930s.

This is the story of the fight for Cuban music between the Cuban state music company and America's Peer Music.

Havana holds court

Following the courtroom drama from London to Havana and back again, it pits old enemies Cuba and America against each other once more, this time for Cuba's musical heritage as they scramble for the lucrative publishing rights.

This film witnesses lawyers locking heads and the surviving composers, now in their eighties, sat in the in the backstreets bars of Old Havana waiting for their share of the royalties, which have been frozen since the beginning of the trial.

Omara Poruondo, Queen of Buena Vista, tells of her sadness if these songs are to be lost to Cuba.

And 87-year-old Rosendo Ruiz has to give evidence in court, while tourists sip mojitos to the sounds of the old songs which still play on in Havana.

Capturing the essence of the Cuban people caught in a bygone era - with their '50s cars, communist system and fiercely nationalist spirit - the documentary tells a tale of Cuba's attitude to the outside world through its music, and opens a window to a little understood island.