Buena Vista Social Club
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Free Music Notes for Buena Vista Social Club
Free Music Review: Essential Listening
Hit: 5 Stars
The most exciting things happening in music these days are in the field of world music, well for me anyhow.And then once in a blue moon someone comes along with a special record that just literally knocks your socks off and makes you listen with new ears, an open mind and an open heart. Ry Cooder himself says that this is THE most important record he has ever done and the greatest musical experience of his life.Tall order if ever I heard one, this coming from the man who brought us possibly one of the finest soundtracks in our time, Paris Texas and scores of others. I'm sure we all have our personal favorites. I'm hung up on that one myself. Cooder has for some time now being immersing himself into the world music pool. I think his last excursion with this label was Talking Timbuktu with Ali Farka Toure back in about '94 going on my fading memory. This time though Cooder has gone to Cuba and entered another world and time. This is the Cuba of the 1930's and '40's, where the cha cha and mambo and son ruled supreme, merging to create exciting rhythms and passion and in ways an innocence that has been lost to us. This is Cuban music untouched by modern technologies and rap or hip hop. In fact it is probably closer to gospel music and jazz than anything else.
Ry Cooder utilises a 77 year old pianist by the name of Ruben Gonzalez as well as a 89 year old singer and guitarist Compay Segundo. These guys along with a lot of the other musicians who make up this recording were part if not the music scene of Cuba in the thirties and forties and make this album a gem to listen to. There is chemistry at play here and it is easy to comprehend why Cooder himself was enthusiastic about this release. Everyone here plays with passion and zeal and love. Also after fifty years in the music business, and having turned down a chance to become a doctor in his younger days, Ruben Gonzalez recorded his debut album for World Circuit. So impressed was Cooder and Nick Gold (executive producer) that a decision was made to record him then and there before it was too late. Also joining Cooder on Buena Vista Social Club is Ibrahim Ferrer, a seventy year old veteran of the Cuban music scene as well as Omara Portuono who was once one of the leading bolero singers in Cuba. Listening to this i am struck by the life in this recording, the sense of joy and understanding and bond between these musicians. I can't stop playing this and if this is the way it is, I may just have to get myself a ticket to Cuba for my next lot of holidays. Most excellent. Congratulations all around especially to the old men and women in Cuba who make up this record.
Free Music Review: Thanks Ry Cooder for not playing this time
Hit: 5 Stars
I don't know if anyone else shares my feeling about this, but the only thing we can thank Ry Cooder for is bringing this amazing slice of history of what I consider our Southern Appendix to the light of a demonstrably appreciative audience of which I count myself an ecstatic member. I give this 5 stars because it is an amazing journal full of amazing music made by amazing musicians. And Ry Cooder is one of them--just not this time or place. A careful viewing of this wonderful film catches Real Cubans making Real Cuban music not a little startled at the injection of Cooder's otherwise stellar slide playing into their performance. It was wholly uncalled for, and their reaction is not one of appreciation but rather the one we have when we are at a Ramones Concert, and Barry Manilow takes the stage. Just so anyone gets the wrong idea: I am a huge fan of Ry Cooder as long as he is playing Borderline where he belongs, and we all owe him a huge debt first by recognizing the treasure we have been missing, and by bringing this film about at all. And for that we can forgive him much, but it's too little, too late. There it is for all to see forever into eternity. It was simply awful. And disruptive, and entirely inappropriate. There is NO PLACE in Cuban music for slide guitar. None. Cuban music is precise, totally rhythmic, and although created on analog instruments, almost digital in its execution. American Swamp Slide does not resonate with this music. It sticks out like a sore thumb, and Every Time Cooder injects his mojo into the mix, the thing sort of popcorn farts and would die if it were not for the otherworldly professionalism of these amateur and largely ignored Cuban virtuosos. They are taken aback, they look at Ry with a WTF that we can barely detect because they have so much class, and then they carry on in spite of this arrogant puppy like incursion into their sacred domain. Sorry, Ry, I love you, but you should have sat this one out and not tried to be part of the Club. It would have served us all a whole lot better if you had apprehended your true part in this play to have produced THEM and brought THEM to us unvarnished and untainted by anything other than themselves. Yes, they still get 5 stars because of who they are and their simply incredible story, but it was not your story nor your part, and we should have never seen your face or heard that glorious slide at all. Ever. My only wish is that you could do it all over again and heed this advice. But I am not holding my breath for reunion. Ego comes and goes, but cinema is forever. 2 bad. Hugs and kisses.Free Music Review: Buena Vista review
Hit: 5 Stars
Awesome Album
The Buena Vista Social Club was a members club in Havana, Cuba that held dances and musical activities, becoming a popular location for musicians to meet and play during the 1940s. In the 1990s, nearly 50 years after the club was closed, it inspired a recording made by Cuban musician Juan de Marcos González and American guitarist Ry Cooder with traditional Cuban musicians, some of whom were veterans who had performed at the club during the height of its popularity.
The recording, named Buena Vista Social Club after the Havana institution, became an international success, and the ensemble was encouraged to perform with a full line-up in Amsterdam in 1998. German director Wim Wenders captured the performance on film, followed by a second concert in Carnegie Hall, New York City for a documentary that included interviews with the musicians conducted in Havana. Wenders's film, also called Buena Vista Social Club, was released to critical acclaim, receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary feature and winning numerous accolades including Best Documentary at the European Film Awards.
The success of both the album and film sparked a revival of international interest in traditional Cuban music and Latin American music in general. Some of the Cuban performers later released well-received solo albums and recorded collaborations with international stars from different musical genres. The "Buena Vista Social Club" name became an umbrella term to describe these performances and releases, and has been likened to a brand label that encapsulates Cuba's "musical golden age" between the 1930s and 1950s. The new success was fleeting for the most recognizable artists in the ensemble: Compay Segundo, Rubén González, and Ibrahim Ferrer, who died at the ages of ninety-five, eighty-four, and seventy-eight respectively; Segundo and González in 2003, then Ferrer in 2005.
Free Music Review: Spicy Cuban flavor with the charm of syncopation supremo.
Hit: 5 Stars
Slide guitar virtuoso, Ry Cooder, has always been a proponent of rhythm. Whether turning a Johnny Cash song into zydeco, toting his instrument into the sleezy girly clubs of Paris, Texas, or revisiting the famous "crossroads," where blues-legend Robert Johnson made his pact with the devil, the man-from-all-regions always told the story with a groove to show for it.Cooder's mere presence in Cuba now brings validity to the island's rich, musical culture. Those way north of the border have now caught the spicy flavor and charm of syncopation supremo, inviting the Social Club to perform at New York's Carnegie Hall.
"In Cuba, the music flows like a river," says Cooder. "It takes care of you and rebuilds you from the inside out." In a country that attributes your status by the amount of chrome still hanging on your Chevy, Cooder and friends fill the side streets with an invigorating sampling of son, danzon, guajira, and bolero. This is music that is cool in spite of the climate in which it was born.
There isn't any documentary video to accompany us on the tour, but the zesty atmosphere of the recording will have you painting portraits just the same. You're likely to see yourself stepping into an alley bar for camaraderie among the working class, a partaking of the ardent spirits, viewing seductive senioritas lining the doorways, and inhaling tobacco-thick humidity being swirled by the ceiling fans and the distinctive Buena Vista Social Club that embraces it all.
Order me a bloody mary and a celery stalk. Celebrate!! These passionate troubadours have won the West with an invigorating stamp of approval. So let the spirits that guard the prestigious Carnegie Hall pay attention. Here is rhythm, and it has a groove.
Free Music Review: A Brilliant Recording
Hit: 5 Stars
While visiting some friends, with several three-year-olds swirling around us and shreiking (mine included) as the adults tried to talk, this disc was playing in the background. And somehow, amidst the cacophony, this lush, warm, soulful and vibrant music cut through it all. It encirlcled my head and filtered into my ears.I must have asked three seperate times what was playing--the information wasn't sticking because of the distractions, but the music did stick and made a strong impression on me. I bought a copy the next day and haven't played a recording over and over like this since I was a teenager.
The simple arrangements and instumentation are powerful. A guitar, trumpet, conga, saxophone, and vocals that sound as if they are from another time are often all there is to make this gem come alive. The disc is beautifully recorded, yet still sounds as if you have stepped back into the 1950s in Cuba.
I wish I spoke Spanish (more than my mediocre ability to order food at the local bodega) so I could REALLY enjoy this wonderful recording, but it's not necessary. The music speaks for itself and the meaning of the songs are fairly obvious. But to satisfy your curiosity there is a translation included with the Spanish lyrics so you can read along and get the gist even if you aren't Cuban.
This is certainly an essential recording to add to your collection. I expect I will be giving this to several people I know for gifts. No holiday required. It will add texture to any party you choose to play it and it will take the edge off a work day from hell. Cook dinner for yourself and put this on while you chop and sauté. You might even find yourself dancing a bit...