Buena Vista Social Club: when Cuban legends conquered the world

Buena Vista Social Club is one of the most important musical projects in the recent history of Cuban music. It was neither a conventional group nor a band created for commercial success. Rather, it was a gathering of great veteran musicians who revived traditional styles such as son cubano, the bolero and the danzón, and brought them to stages all over the world.

The origins of Buena Vista Social Club

The project was born in 1996 in Havana, driven by two key figures: Ry Cooder, an American guitarist and producer, and Juan de Marcos González, a musician and researcher of traditional Cuban music. The original idea was to record an album that would recover Cuban popular music from the 1940s and 1950s, a golden age that had become partly forgotten outside Cuba.

The name Buena Vista Social Club comes from an old social club in Havana that was very popular before the Cuban Revolution. In these clubs people danced, played music and gathered as a community. The project sought to revive that spirit: music that was intimate, elegant and deeply human.

And who is Ry Cooder?

Ry Cooder is an American musician, guitarist and producer, born in 1947, and one of the world’s leading experts in roots music. Blues, folk, country, Tex-Mex, Cuban and African music… if it sounds authentic, it interests him. He is not a pop star, nor has he ever wanted to be. He is more the kind of person musicians call when they want to do things properly. He is an exceptional guitarist, famous for his mastery of the slide guitar, and has worked with legends such as Muddy Waters, Ali Farka Touré and Johnny Cash, among many others. He also composed iconic film soundtracks, such as Paris, Texas (that guitar sound is unforgettable).

His relationship with Buena Vista Social Club? As mentioned earlier, Ry Cooder was the driving force and producer behind the project. He did not “discover” the Cuban musicians (that would be far too simplistic), but he did have the intelligence and respect to bring them together, record them in the old-fashioned way, and give them all the spotlight.

Recording the first album

The first album, Buena Vista Social Club (1997), was recorded at the EGREM (Areito) studios in Havana in just six days — a surprising fact considering the quality and historical importance of the record. The sessions were recorded on analogue tape, not digitally. Ry Cooder was looking for a warm, natural sound, without artificial corrections. Many of the songs were recorded almost live, with all the musicians playing together.

Some interesting facts:

• Several of the musicians had not seen each other for decades before entering the studio.
• Rubén González had gone years without owning a piano, yet recorded with astonishing ease.
• Chan Chan, the most famous song on the album, had existed for years and nobody expected it to become a worldwide hit.
• The original project was meant to include African musicians who were unable to travel because of visa problems. This led to the album being recorded solely with Cuban musicians, which ultimately defined its identity.
• When the recording was finished, nobody expected international success. The album was conceived as a tribute, not as a global phenomenon.

Main figures in the project

Buena Vista Social Club brought together true legends of Cuban music:

• Compay Segundo: singer and tres player, a symbol of son cubano.
• Ibrahim Ferrer: a deep, emotional voice, with a life story marked by perseverance.
• Rubén González: a brilliant pianist, blending Cuban tradition and jazz.
• Omara Portuondo: the great lady of Cuban song and the only woman in the original group.
• Eliades Ochoa: guitarist and singer, representative of rural Cuban music.
• Orlando “Cachaíto” López: double bassist and rhythmic backbone of the group.
• Barbarito Torres, Pío Leyva, Puntillita, among others.

Most of them were veteran musicians who had already enjoyed important careers in Cuba, but had little international exposure.

Although the project does not have an extensive discography, its impact was enormous:

1. Buena Vista Social Club (1997): the original album, featuring classics such as Chan Chan, Dos gardenias and El cuarto de Tula. It won a Grammy Award and became a worldwide success.
2. Under the banner Buena Vista Social Club presents…, several musicians recorded solo albums, including Ibrahim Ferrer, Rubén González and Compay Segundo.
3. Buena Vista Social Club at Carnegie Hall (2008): a live recording of a historic concert in New York.In addition, Wim Wenders’ documentary Buena Vista Social Club (1999) was crucial to the project’s success, showing not only the music but also the lives and personalities of the artists.

Cultural importance and legacy

Buena Vista Social Club achieved something exceptional: it revalued traditional Cuban music on a global scale, proved that older musicians could be at the centre of success, and influenced new generations of artists and listeners. Today, many of the original musicians have passed away, but their legacy lives on. Omara Portuondo and Eliades Ochoa remain the most prominent living representatives of the original project.

It was not a passing fashion nor just another commercial product. It was an unrepeatable meeting of talent, memory and authenticity — a project that reminded the world that sincere music knows no age and no borders.