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Buena Vista Social Club: Buena Vista Social Club

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s

Artist: Buena Vista Social Club
Title: Buena Vista Social Club
Released: 1997.09.16
Label: Elektra/Asylum Records
Time: 59:43
Producer(s): Ry Cooder
Appears with:
Category: Latin
Rating: *********. (9/10)
Media type: CD
Purchase date:  2003.05.01
Price in €: 1,00
Web address:

 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Chan Chan (Eliades Ochoa) - 4:16
[2] De Camino a la Vereda (Ibrahim Ferrer) - 5:03
[3] El Cuarto de Tula (Ry Cooder) - 7:27
[4] Pueblo Nuevo (Ruben Gonzalez) - 6:05
[5] Dos Gardenias (Ibrahim Ferrer) - 3:02
[6] Y Tú Qué Has Hecho? (Compay Segundo) - 3:13
[7] Veinte Años (Omara Portuondo) - 3:29
[8] El Carretero (Eliades Ochoa) - 3:28
[9] Candela (Ibrahim Ferrer) - 5:27
[10] Amor de Loca Juventud (Compay Segundo) - 3:21
[11] Orgullecida (Compay Segundo) - 3:18
[12] Murmullo (Ibrahim Ferrer) - 3:50
[13] Buena Vista Social Club (Ry Cooder) - 4:50
[14] La Bayamesa (Manuel "Puntillita" Licea) - 2:54

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


RY COODER - Guitar, Mandolin, Vocals, Multi Instruments, Liner Notes
COMPAY SEGUNDO - Guitar, Conga, Vocals, Background Vocals
IBRAHIM FERRER - Vocals, Background Vocals, Multi Instruments
RUBEN GONZALEZ - Piano
ELIADES OCHOA - Guitar, Vocals

OMARA PORTUONDO - Vocals
JULIO FERNANDEZ - Maraccas, Vocals
JOACHIM COODER - Multi Instruments
ORLANDO "Cachaito" LOPEZ - Bass
ALBERTO VALDES - Maraccas, Choir, Chorus
CARLOS GONZÁLEZ - Bongos, Cowbell
MANUEL "El Guajiro" MIRABAL - Bass, Trumpet
BENITO SUÁREZ MAGANA - Guitar
JULIENNE OVIEDO SÁNCHEZ - Timbales
JUAN DE MARCOS GONZÁLEZ - Conductor, Background Vocals, Choir, Chorus, Guiro, Song Transcriptions
BARBARITO TORRES - Laoud
SALVADOR REPILADO LABRADA - Bass
MANUEL "Puntillita" LICEA - Vocals, Background Vocals, Choir, Chorus
LUIS BARZAGA - Background Vocals, Choir, Chorus
LÁZARO VILLA - Conga, Guiro

NICK GOLD - Executive Producer, Sleeve Notes
JERRY BOYS - Engineer, Mixing
LARRY HIRSCH - Engineer
BERNIE GRUNDMAN - Mastering
SUSAN TITELMAN - Photography
NIGEL WILLIAMSON - Sleeve Notes
MARIA RODRIGUEZ - Song Transcriptions
JENNY ADLINGTON - Translation
FRANCESCA CLARKE - Translation

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


1997 CD Elektra/Asylum 79478
1997 CD World Circuit/Nonesuch 79478
1998 LP Classic Compact Disc 79468
1998 CS Elektra/Asylum 79478



This album is named after a members-only club that was opened in Havana in pre-Castro times, a period of unbelievable musical activity in Cuba. While bandleader Desi Arnaz became a huge hit in the States, several equally talented musicians never saw success outside their native country, and have had nothing but their music to sustain them during the Castro reign. Ry Cooder went to Cuba to record a musical documentary of these performers. Many of the musicians on this album have been playing for more than a half century, and they sing and play with an obvious love for the material. Cooder could have recorded these songs without paying the musicians a cent; one can imagine them jumping up and grabbing for their instruments at the slightest opportunity, just to play. Most of the songs are a real treasure, traversing a lot of ground in Cuba's musical history. There's the opening tune, "Chan Chan," a composition by 89-year-old Compay Segundo, who was a bandleader in the '50s; the cover of the early '50s tune "De Camino a La Verada," sung by the 72-year-old composer Ibrahim Ferrer, who interrupted his daily walk through Havana just long enough to record; or the amazing piano playing on "Pablo Nuevo" by 77-year-old Ruben Gonzalez, who has a unique style that blends jazz, mambo and a certain amount of playfulness. All of these songs were recorded live -- some of them in the musicians' small apartments -- and the sound is incredibly deep and rich, something that would have been lost in digital recording and overdubbing. Cooder brought just the right amount of reverence to this material, and it shows in his production, playing and detailed liner notes. If you get one album of Cuban music, this should be the one.

Steve McMullen - All-Music Guide, © 1992 - 2003 AEC One Stop Group, Inc.



Someday, probably soon, Ry Cooder's 1996 recording sessions in Cuba will be recognized as the most important musical rescue mission since Preservation Hall opened in New Orleans. This miraculous musical event emerged with an amiable, off-hand grace from the utter wreckage of Cooder and World Circuit producer Nick Gold's original concept: to record African musicians with their Cuban counterparts. Instead, the all-Cuban sessions stewarded by Juan de Marcos Gonzalez resuscitated the careers of an all-star cast of retirees like pianist Ruben Gonzalez and vocalist Compay Segundo. Cooder and his guides mine a deep shaft of pre-Revolutionary song that has its roots in guajira, or country, music and was about as urban as you could get in the '30s and '40s. The absolutely luminous "Chan Chan" captures the rich patina of neglected Havana and its forgotten stars; other tracks touch on the cha cha chá, danzón, and even some vaudeville-sounding material that remembers a time of more open U.S./Cuban relations. Of course, this hit has sparked a veritable cottage industry of Cuban senior citizens' efforts: sister releases from the Afro-Cuban All Stars, Introducing....Ruben Gonzalez, Segundo's Lo Mejor de la Vida, and Ibrahim Ferrer's solo turn all keep the magic alive.

Mark Schwartz - Barnes & Noble



Ry Cooder's name has helped bring attention to this session, but it's the veteran Cuban son musicians who make this album really special. Reminiscent of Ellington in its scope and sense of hushed romanticism, Buena Vista Social Club is that rare meld of quietude and intensity; while the players sound laid-back, they're putting forth very alive music, a reminder that aging doesn't mean taking to bed. Barbarito Torres's laoud solo on "El Cuarto de Tula" is both more blinding and more tasteful than any guitar showcase on any recent rock album; a quote from "Stormy Weather" and some very distinct parallels to Hawaiian styles remind us of why it's called "world music."

Rickey Wright - Amazon.com



Ry Cooders Name hat natürlich geholfen, die Aufmerksamkeit auf diese Platte zu lenken, doch es sind die erfahrenen kubanischen Son-Musiker, die dieses Album zu etwas Besonderem machen. In der Themenwahl und dem Gefühl für gedämpfte Romantik erinnert das Album an Ellington. Wir finden auf Buena Vista Social Club die seltene Verschmelzung von Ruhe und Intensität. Die Klänge sind ganz gelassen, und die Spieler stellen eine lebendige Musik in den Vordergrund, die uns daran erinnert, daß man auch im Alter nicht auf Lebendigkeit verzichten muß. Barbarito Torres' lautes Solo in "El Cuarto de Tula" ist sowohl bewundernswerter als auch geschmackvoller als jedes Gitarrenstück auf jedem beliebigen neueren Rock-Album. Eine Version von "Stormy Weather" und einige sehr deutliche Parallelen zu hawaiianischen Stilen erinnern den Hörer daran, daß dies "World Music" ist.

Rickey Wright - Amazon.de



Der amerikanische Gitarrist Ry Cooder ist ein bescheidener, zurückhaltender Mann. Seine Begeistung für ein Projekt, das ihn im März 1996 nach Kuba führte, sprengt indes alle Barrieren seiner vertrauten Introvertiertheit. "Ich habe das Gefühl, daß ich mein Leben lang auf dieses Experiment hin orientiert habe", schwärt der 50jährige, der die Aufnahmen mit einigen der bekanntesten Musiker aus Castros Reich eingespielt hat. Mit einer Begeisterung, wie sie wohl nur unter dem Himmel der Zuckerinsel gedeiht, spielten Cooder und Co. eine Kollektion von Balladen ein, in denen der Schmerz und die Freude der kubanischen Kultur pulsiert. Am Piano saß ein Männchen, 77 Jahre alt, der sein Instument schon für immer zugeklappt zu haben schien. Rubén González heißt die Legende, die wie ein junger Gott die Finger über die Tasten flitzen ließ - eine göttliche Session, bei der einem die Worte fehlen... Sie gehört zu einer dreiteiligen Reihe des World-Circuit-Labels, deren Anfang die Afro-Cuban All Stars mit "A Toda Cuba Le Gusta" (siehe stereoplay 6/97) machte. Die Serie komplettiert dann "introducing ... Rubén Conzález" (CD 049, 46:01). Die Scheibe widmet sich ganz dem Piano-Veteran. Hört man Gonzáles seine Cha-Cha-Chas und Bossa Novas klimpern, versteht man, warum Cooder ihn "eine kubanische Mischung aus Thelonious Monk und Felix The Cat" nennt...

© Stereoplay



In March of 1996, journeyman musician Ry Cooder traveled with producer Nick Gold to Havana, Cuba, to indulge themselves in a flurry of recording activity. Originally the duo (which together had created Talking Timbuktu, the 1995 Grammy-winning collaboration between Cooder and Ali Farka Toure) was to bring the best Cuban musicians together with a group of African players. The Malian musicians unexpectedly failed to materialize, so the two promptly set to work with their Cuban compatriots capturing the music now immortalized as the Buena Vista Social Club, an all-star convocation of Cuban musicians with Cooder sitting in. (While in Havana, Gold and Cooder also cut a stellar Latin orchestra album by the Afro-Cuban Jazz All Stars, and the debut album from 77-year old jazz pianist Ruben Gonzalez). This music is pure delight, with soaring singers, passionately strummed guitars, and a pulsing beat that's full of all the fire and mystery of Afro-Cuban music. What's so delightful about Cooder's participation in Buena Vista Social Club is how his playing never intrudes or shows off, but rather delights in making the music, a subtle slide here or a gentle strum there expressing warmth, love and joy through the music. Buena Vista Social Club will be hailed as a milestone record in the world music genre for years to come.

CMJ New Music Report Issue: 540 - Oct 06, 1997
© 1978-2003 College Media, Inc., Inc. All Rights Reserved.



It makes some kind of cosmic sense that Ry Cooder – a slide guitarist whose collaborations with Indian classical musicians and Tex-Mex stars have yielded recordings of rare and unconventional beauty – would wind up in Cuba. The island is one of those places where there are few barriers between high and mass culture, and folklore isn't something that gathers dust in museums. For a category-basher like Cooder, it's almost heaven: Hip-hop kids know the words and music of Beny Moré, the prototypical Cuban singer of the '50s; the decades-old pulses of rumba and son turn up in current radio hits.

On Buena Vista Social Club, Cooder was looking for the old stuff – storysongs handed down through generations, rhythms and melodies that were popular before the revolution became a glimmer in young Fidel Castro's eye. Aiming for the front-porch-casual feeling of traditional Cuban sextets, Cooder gathered a group of active and semiretired artists, including magical vocalists Compay Segundo and Ibrahim Ferrer, to revisit the lovelorn ballads, patriotic hymns and gentle son-based dance numbers heard in swank Havana lounges as far back as the 1920s.

Though the musicians honor the general outlines of these compositions, Cooder can't resist the impulse to stretch the traditional-folk-song settings. His curiosity is a two-edged sword: Sometimes, like on the stately "Chan Chan," his moaning, pitchbending lead lines enhance the bittersweet feeling of the melody. Other times, particularly on "Orgullecida," the Western swing-guitar ad-libs become intrusions, dispatches from a more cluttered (and cynical) age that distract from the world-weary testimony of the singers. But Cooder never tramples the songs. He knows that his guitar embellishments can't do much to improve these wistful melodies, enduring reminders that in Cuba, the wisdom of the ages still counts for something.

TOM MOON - RS 769
© Copyright 2003 RollingStone.com


What the Critics Say:

Spin (9/99, p.156) - Ranked #71 in Spin Magazine's "90 Greatest Albums of the '90s."

Village Voice (2/24/98) - Ranked #21 in the Village Voice's 1997 Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll.

Q Magazine (1/98, p.112) - Included in Q Magazine's "50 Best Albums of 1997."

Rolling Stone (9/18/97, p.104) - 3.5 Stars (out of 5) - "...revisit[s] the lovelorn ballads, patriotic hymns and gentle son-based dance numbers heard in swank Havana lounges as far back as the 1920s....enduring reminders that in Cuba, the wisdom of the ages still counts for something."

Vibe (11/97, p.152) - "...The beguiling fusion of Cooder's twangy slide guitar with the danzon and other, conga-tinged Afro-Hispanic rhythms...makes for an exciting multicultural marriage..."

Entertainment Weekly (10/03/97, p.85) - "...The rhythms vary, but the sound is gentle yet flamboyant throughout. It brims with warmth." - Rating: B+

 

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