Track Listing
Click tracks with speaker icon to listen| 1 | Chan Chan (Francisco Repilado) | 4:16 |
| 2 | De Camino a la Vereda (Ibrahim Ferrer) | 5:03 |
| 3 | El Cuarto de Tula (Sergio Siaba) | 7:27 |
| 4 | Pueblo Nuevo | 6:05 |
| 5 | Dos Gardenias (Isolina Carillo) | 3:02 |
| 6 | ¿Y Tú Qué Has Hecho? (Eusebio Delfín) | 3:13 |
| 7 | Veinte Años (María Teresa Vera) | 3:29 |
| 8 | El Carretero (Guillermo Portabales) | 3:28 |
| 9 | Candela (Faustino Oramas) | 5:27 |
| 10 | Amor de loca Juventud (Rafael Ortiz) | 3:21 |
| 11 | Orgullecida (Eliseo Silveria) | 3:18 |
| 12 | Murmullo (Electo Rosell Chepín) | 3:50 |
| 13 | Buena Vista Social Club (Israel López) | 4:50 |
| 14 | La Bayamesa (Sindo Garay) | 2:54 |
News & Reviews
- Monday, January 5, 2009
Nonesuch Artists Continue to Draw Year-End Accolades
Since the last Nonesuch Journal entry of 2008, which laid out scores of year-end best-of lists featuring Nonesuch albums and artists, still more critical praise has come in placing this music among the year's best.
- Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Nonesuch Albums Abound in Year-End Best Lists
While 2008 may go down as one of the more turbulent years in recent (or distant) memory, or, more optimistically, a time of change, there is much to celebrate in the year in music. Nonesuch artists across all genres have contributed to that and, accordingly, have made their way onto many critics' lists of the year's best. For the final Nonesuch Journal article of the year, we offer an overview of just some of that year-end critical praise.
About this Album
1997 Grammy Award Winner
The original idea behind Buena Vista was to record a collaboration between a number of African and Cuban guitarists. World Circuit’s Nick Gold invited Ry Cooder to participate, having worked together before on Ali Farka Touré’s 1994 Grammy Award–winning Talking Timbuktu. Cooder replied within hours saying he would be there. The Africans failed to make the trip, but recording went ahead anyway.
"Buena Vista Social Club" is both the name given to this extraordinary pool of musicians and the album, recorded in just six days in Havana’s 1950s vintage Egrem studios. The album has an intimate, natural charm that comes from musicians totally at ease with other, sharing a deep passion and understanding for the music and playing a repertoire suggested by themselves. Arrangements and instrumentation were worked out during recording according to the feel of the individual songs, and the vast majority of the performances were recorded "live" in one or two takes.
The oldest musician on the album is the 89-year-old giant of Cuban music, guitarist and vocalist Compay Segundo. According to Cooder, “the whole album turned on Compay. He was the fulcrum, the pivot. He knew all the best songs and the way to do them. Well, he’s been doing them since World War One.” Featured on vocals is 70-year-old Ibrahim Ferrer, a star from the 1950s who was literally called in off the streets on the first day of recording after years of musical inactivity. Also on vocals is the great bolero singer Omara Portuondo, whom Cooder calls “the Edith Piaf of Cuba.” Omara happened to be in the studio lobby and Cooder invited her upstairs to record. On guitar and vocals is Eliades Ochoa, the great country musician who was flown in for these recordings from Santiago in the east of Cuba. On piano is the brilliant Rubén González, veteran of Arsenio Rodríguez’s early 1940s band whom Cooder describes as “the greatest piano soloist I have ever heard in my life.”
These featured musicians are joined by a host of Cuba’s finest players, including Orlando "Cachaíto" López on bass, Manuel "Guajiro" Mirabal on trumpet, and the percussionists from the band Sierra Maestra.
The album includes a wide variety of Cuban styles, from the city sounds of Havana to the country style of Santiago, and the songs cover a range of the Island’s history from "La Bayamesa" written in 1869 to "Chan Chan," a contemporary composition by Compay Segundo.
Credits
MUSICIANS
Luis Barzaga, backing vocals (2), chorus vocals (3,9)
Joachim Cooder, udu drum (1, 4, 5, 8, 12, 13), dumbek (2, 3, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11), conga (3), drums (11)
Ry Cooder, guitars (1-7, 11-13); mbira (2, 8); oud, bolon, floor slide, percussion (8); acoustic and electric slide guitars (9); slide guitars (10)
Julio Alberto Fernandez, vocals (10), maracas (10)
Ibrahim Ferrer, backing vocals (1, 8), vocals (2, 3, 5, 9, 12, 14), conga (4), clave (6, 13), bongos (10)
Carlos Gonzalez, bongos (1, 3 ,9), cowbell (3, 9)
Juan de Marcos Gonzalez, backing vocals (2, 8), conductor (3, 9), guiro (8), chorus vocals (9)
Ruben Gonzalez, piano (5, 6, 11-14)
Salvador Repilado Labrada, bass (10)
Manuel "Puntillita" Licea, backing vocals (2), lead vocal (3), chorus vocals (9), congas (13), vocal (14)
Orlando "Cachaíto" López, bass (1-9, 11-14)
Benito Suárez Magana, guitar (10)
Manuel "Guajiro" Mirabal, trumpet (1-6, 9, 11)
Eliades Ochoa, vocal (1, 3, 8, 9), guitar (1, 3, 8, 9, 11)
Omara Portuondo, vocal (7)
Julienne Oviedo Sánchez, timbales (3)
Compay Segundo, backing vocals (1, 6, 7, 10, 11, 14), congas (1), guitar (2, 6, 7, 10, 11, 14)
Barbarito Torres, laoud (2, 3, 7)
Alberto "Virgilio" Valdéz, maracas (1, 3-9, 12, 13), backing vocals (2), chorus vocals (3, 9)
Lázaro Villa, güiro (4, 13), congas (5, 12)
PRODUCTION CREDITS
Produced by Ry Cooder
Recorded and mixed by Jerry Boys
Mastered by Bernie Grundman
Recorded at Egrem Studios, Havana, Cuba, March 1996
Additional recording: Larry Hirsch at Ocean Way Studios, Los Angeles
Mixed at Livingston Studios, London
Design by The Team
Photography by Susan Titelman
Executive Producer: Nick Gold
