Buena Vista Social Club | Artist

Buena Vista Social Club is a collective of Cuban musicians established 1969 to revive the music of pre-revolutionary Cuba. The club itself dates back to 1938 but after Castro's revolution in 1959 it became a focal point for the resurgence of traditional Cuban and Latin American music. In 1996 American guitarist Ry Cooder was invited to Havana by British world music producer Nick Gold to record a session by African musicians from Mali. It transpired that the Malian troupe didn't arrive so Cooder and Gold decided to record an album of Cuban music instead. The project quickly gained momentum and brought together the cream of Cuba's rich musical community. A total of twenty musicians contributed to the recording including Ry Cooder and his son Joachim, who at the time was a 19-year-old scholar of Latin percussion and provided drums for the band. Ry Cooder afterwards described the sessions as "the greatest musical experience of my life". The 1997 album Buena Vista Social Club is a masterpiece. That was followed in 2002 by The Next Generation and At Carnegie Hall from 2008, both of which are superb. Cooder worked with director Wim Wenders to make an excellent documentary film of the Carnegie Hall concerts.

Artist Website: buenavistasocialclub.com

Featured Albums: Buena Vista Social Club

Related Artists: Ry Cooder, Ibrahim Ferrer, Omara Portuondo, Afro-Cuban Allstars, Wim Wenders