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— The Analog Vault // Essential Listening —

No other record has done more to popularise the energy and romance of Cuban music than Buena Vista Social Club’s enduring 1997 debut. Named after the homonymous Havana hotspot, this exalted ensemble was put together by bandleader Juan de Marcos González and American guitarist Ry Cooder. Consisting of aged and retired Cuban musicians (some in their 70s and late 80s such as Ibrahim Ferrer and Rubén González) with a cadre of younger players, the group recorded the definitive document of their homeland’s exuberant sound in six magical days.

This self-titled album exposed a bouquet of traditional styles to the wider world - by weaving in older genres such as son cubano, bolero, descarga, danzón and guajira - alongside jazz and mambo The result – an enduring classic that fully captures the energy, passion and vitality that defines Cuban music culture. — The Analog Vault

Buena Vista Social Club was a phenomenon. A one off, feel good sensation. And one that led to a web of subsequent spin-offs, that benefited from the original success, but took it in surprising new directions.

On the album’s release, Nick Gold hoped that, given a fair wind, Buena Vista might sell 100,000 copies – a highly respectable figure in the world music field. Today the album’s sales stand at over eight million, making it the biggest-selling Cuban album in history. As one critic put it, Buena Vista has become “world music’s equivalent of The Dark Side of the Moon.” “This is the best thing I was ever involved in,” Ry Cooder said prior to the album’s release in 1997. “ It's the peak, a music that takes care of you and nurtures you. I felt that I had trained all my life for this experience and it was a blessed thing.” — via World Circuit

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Label: World Circuit Ltd, BMG
Format: 2 x Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Stereo, Gatefold, 180g
Reissued: 2021 / Original Release: 1997
Genre: Latin
Style: Afro-Cuban, Son, Danzon, Bolero, Trova, Guajira, Ballad

File under: Latin
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