The landmark Buena Vista Social Club debut album turns 25 on Sept. 17
this year, and to celebrate World Circuit is giving the album the
deluxe reissue treatment, with a remastered double vinyl edition of
the original album, a CD of previously unreleased bonus tracks and a
40-page book of photos, song notes and lyrics as well as biographies
of the members and history of the original club and recording studio
where it all came together.
To trumpet the
announcement, World Circuit has released a new song from those
legendary sessions in EGRAM/Areito studios in 1996. Enjoy footage
from Havana and inside the studio as “Vicenta” plays:
Despite being a sort
of improvised “plan B” after a collaboration with Malian
musicians was stymied by visa trouble, the Buena Vista Social Club
album was a booming
success. It topped Billboard charts across the world, went platinum
in the United States, triple platinum in Europe and won the 1998
Grammy for Best Tropical Latin Album. A live album soon followed, as
well as a collection of unreleased tracks, and a dozen solo albums
from members, as well as Wim Wenders’ award-winning documentary of
the same name.
The
album’s musical director Juan
de Marcos González says,
“Buena
Vista Social Club
has
probably been the most important album of Cuban music in the late
20th
century,
and definitely the one that reopened the doors of international
recognition for son Cubano. Twenty-five years later I can still feel the
positive vibes of the studio and, of course, the pleasure of having
contributed to some extent to the album that rescued the music of my
country and many of its great interpreters from the shadows.”
For over two decades, we’ve
appreciated this beautifully recorded capsule of mostly
pre-revolutionary Cuban music. With some of the most senior members,
Compay Segundo, Ruben Gonzales and Ibrahim Ferrer having passed on,
it feels more valuable than ever. There’s always room on the record
shelf for more Buena Vista Social Club.
The reissue comes out Sept. 17 and can be pre-ordered here.
