I read something interesting recently about the whole Buena Vista Social Club phenomena. Basically the musicians involved were mostly forgotten about within Cuba for decades, which is perhaps unsurprising since naturally Cuban music had developed and progressed like the music of any other country between their pre-revolutionary heyday and their international superstardom as members of Buena Vista and the Afro-Cuban All Stars. Their original material had been rediscovered to a certain extent by younger Cuban musicians in the '70s and '80s but it was always sort of an obscure record collector's obsession rather than a mainstream renaissance in popularity. Then of course came the international release of various Buena Vista related records in the '90s, which corresponded with a huge boom in tourism to Cuba. So all of a sudden millions of foreigners were flooding into Cuba, requesting bands play songs that in many cases were forgotten '40s standards or which were much better known in Cuba from arrangements which were substantially different from their Buena Vista versions.
It's kind of weird to think that an album that is so thoroughly linked to a country in the mind of the international audience is hardly known at all in its country of origin except as something the tourists are interested in. Of course, none of that really has any bearing on the quality of the music, which really is quite impressive, but still, bear in mind when you listen to this album that it's essentially a museum piece put together for a foreign audience. There's a lot more to Cuban music than Buena Vista Social Club and nowadays most of it doesn't really sound anything like Buena Vista Social Club.
Double 180gm vinyl LP pressing. The original Buena Vista Social Club album became a surprise international best seller and the most successful album in the history of Cuban music. It was recorded for World Circuit Records by Ry Cooder over seven days in Havana in 1996, bringing together many of the great names of the golden age of Cuban music in the 1950s, several of whom were coaxed out of retirement for the sessions. In the years that followed the original release, Buena Vista veterans toured the world and were the subject of a celebrated feature film directed by Wim Wenders.
A1 Chan Chan
A2 De Camino A La Vereda
A3 El Cuarto De Tula
B1 Pueblo Nuevo
B2 Dos Gardenias
B3 ¿Y Tú Qué Has Hecho?
C1 Veinte Años
C2 El Carretero
C3 Candela
C4 Amor De Loca Juventud
D1 Orgullecida
D2 Murmullo
D3 Buena Vista Social Club
D4 La Bayamesa
Housed in a gatefold sleeve and pressed on 180 gram vinyl. Includes a 20 page booklet and a download card.
Mastered from the original analogue master tapes.
℗ & © World Circuit Limited, a BMG Company 1997