| Buena Vista Social Club | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | September 16, 1997 | |||
| Recorded | March 1996 | |||
| Studio | EGREM (Havana) | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 60:12 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Producer | Ry Cooder | |||
| Buena Vista Social Club chronology | ||||
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Buena Vista Social Club is a studio album by Buena Vista Social Club, an ensemble of Cuban musicians directed by Juan de Marcos González and American guitarist Ry Cooder. Produced by Cooder, it was recorded at Havana's EGREM studios in March 1996 and released on September 16, 1997, through World Circuit internationally and Nonesuch Records in the United States. It is the only standard studio album exclusively credited to the Buena Vista Social Club.
Buena Vista Social Club was recorded in parallel with A toda Cuba le gusta by the Afro-Cuban All Stars, a similar project also promoted by World Circuit executive Nick Gold and featuring largely the same lineup. In contrast to A toda Cuba le gusta, which was conceived as a revival of the son conjunto, Buena Vista Social Club was meant to bring back the traditional trova and filin, a mellower take on the Cuban son and bolero, as well as the danzón.
A critical and commercial success, the album's release was followed by a short concert tour in Amsterdam and New York's Carnegie Hall in 1998. Footage from these dates, as well as from the recording sessions in Havana, is shown in the 1999 documentary Buena Vista Social Club directed by Wim Wenders. In 2022, the album was selected for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally historically or aesthetically significant". In the same year, it was recognized by the Guinness World Records as the best-selling world music album.[2]
- ^ Blender Staff (May 2003). "500 CDs You Must Own Before You Die!". Blender. New York: Dennis Publishing Ltd. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
- ^ "Best-selling album of world music". Guinness World Record. November 14, 2022. Retrieved November 4, 2023.