Buena Vista Social Club

1	Chan Chan / Buena Vista Social Club 4:16
2	De Camino a la Vereda / Buena Vista Social Club 5:03
3	El Cuarto de Tula / Buena Vista Social Club 7:27
4	Pueblo Nuevo / Buena Vista Social Club 6:05
5	Dos Gardenias / Buena Vista Social Club 3:02
6	Y Tú Qué Has Hecho? / Buena Vista Social Club 3:13
7	Veinte Años / Buena Vista Social Club 3:29
8	El Carretero / Buena Vista Social Club 3:28
9	Candela / Buena Vista Social Club 5:27
10	Amor de Loca Juventud / Buena Vista Social Club 3:21
11	Orgullecida / Buena Vista Social Club 3:18
12	Murmullo / Buena Vista Social Club 3:50
13	Buena Vista Social Club / Buena Vista Social Club 4:50
14	La Bayamesa / Buena Vista Social Club 2:54

Barnes & Noble

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

All Music Guide

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 {|Rubén González|}, 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