Buena Vista Social Club - Buena Vista Social Club (1997)

The Buena Vista Social Club was a members club in Havana, Cuba, that held dances and musical activities, becoming a popular location for musicians to meet and play during the 1940s. In the 1990s, nearly 50 years after the club was closed, it inspired a recording made by Cuban musician Juan de Marcos González and American guitarist Ry Cooder with traditional Cuban musicians, some of whom were veterans who had performed at the club during the height of its popularity.
The album was produced by Cooder who travelled to Cuba to record sessions with the musicians, many of whom were previously largely unknown outside Cuba. The musicians and the songs were later also featured in a documentary film of the same name. The music featured on the album was inspired by the Buena Vista Social Club, a membership club that was at its height during the 1940s and 1950s. Many of the musicians performing on the record were either former performers at the club or were prominent Cuban musicians during the era of the club's existence. Other younger musicians on the record trace their musical roots back to pre-revolutionary Cuban music, mainly the famous Havana musical scene of the 1950s.
The album was recorded in just six days and contained fourteen tracks; opening with "Chan Chan" written by Compay Segundo, a four-chord son (Dm, F, Gm, A) that was to become what Cooder described as "the Buena Vista's calling card”  and ending with a rendition of "La Bayamesa", a traditional Cuban patriotic song (not to be confused with the Cuban national anthem of the same name). The sessions also produced material for the subsequent release, Introducing...Rubén González, which showcased the work of the Cuban pianist.
Buena Vista Social Club earned considerable critical praise and has received numerous accolades from several music writers and publications. In 2003, the album was ranked number 260 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.


01.  Chan Chan  - 4:16
02.  De camino a la vereda  - 5:03
03.  El cuarto de Tula  - 7:27
04.  Pueblo nuevo  - 6:05
05.  Dos gardenias  - 3:02
06.  ¿Y tú qué has hecho?  - 3:13
07.  Veinte años  - 3:29
08.  El carretero  - 3:28
09.  Candela  - 5:27
10.  Amor de loca juventud  - 3:21
11.  Orgullecida  - 3:18
12.  Murmullo  - 3:50
13.  Buena Vista Social Club  - 4:50
14 . La bayamesa  - 2:54

Credits
Musicians – Alberto "Virgilio" Valdés, Barbarito Torres, Benito Suarez Magana*, Carlos González, Compay Segundo, Eliades Ochoa, Ibrahim Ferrer, Joachim Cooder, Juan de Marcos Gonzàlez*, Julienne Oviedo Sanchez, Julio Alberto Fernandez*, Luis Barzaga, Lázaro Villa, Mañuel 'Guajiro' Mirabal*, Mañuel 'Puntillita' Licea, Omara Portuondo, Orlando "Cachaíto" López, Rubén González, Salvador Repilado Labrada
Photography By – Susan Titelman
Producer – Ry Cooder
Recorded By – Jerry Boys
Recorded By [Additional] – Larry Hirsch
Design – The Team
Mastered By – Bernie Grundman
Mixed By – Jerry Boys

Notes
Recorded at Egrem Studios, Havana, Cuba, March 1996
Additional recording at Ocean Way Studios, Los Angeles
Mixed at Livingstone Studios, London and The Bakery, Los Angeles
Genre: Latin, son cubano, bolero, guajira
Length: 60:00
© 1997 World Circuit, Nonesuch Records