The legendary album Buena Vista Social Club, which caused a worldwide hit in the 1990s, from New York to Tokyo, passing through the Vatican, will be included in the Grammy Awards Hall of Fame, at the request of the Latin Recording Academy of the United States.
The institution, based in the city of Miami, affirmed that this distinction recognizes the lasting influence and cultural impact of the album, considered a masterpiece of Cuban son.
According to the Academy, “the work, which took the soul and flavor of the Cuban son and Latin music throughout the world, is one of the most internationally recognized.”
Eliades Ochoa, one of the founders of the project, thanked the recognition and recalled his beginnings as part of the group:
“Even our image continues to go around the world thanks to the Buena Vista Social Club project,” said the performer, one of the most active and prestigious son artists with international recognition.
Omara Portuondo, also founder of the project, thanked the Academy for including the album and hoped “this music continues alive.”
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Aided decisively by Cuban engineer and musician Juan de Marcos González, founder of the Sierra Maestra son band, U.S. Ry Cooder convinced several consecrated figures of Cuban music, at that time retired, or mostly undervalued, to record in EGREM studies.
Among the founding members of the Buenavista Social Club, Compay Segundo, Ibrahím Ferrer, Omara Portuondo, Eliades Ochoa, Manuel “Puntillita” Licea, Rubén González and Pío Leiva and Rubén González Fontanills, among others, stand out.
In 1997 the debut recording appeared, titled Buena Vista Social Club and, despite the low expectations of many, given the studio in which it was recorded, the album was an overwhelming success, both critically and at the box office on the tours taken by the group that took them throughout the world over the years.
In the midst of viral popularity, when social media did not yet exist, the famous German filmmaker Wim Wenders made a documentary about the orchestra’s performances in Amsterdam and New York, as well as interviews with its members.
The material obtained an Oscar nomination in the documentary section, in addition to the award for Best Documentary at the European Film Festival, and a Grammy for the album.
Sales shattered the barrier of 8 million copies and the specialized magazine Rolling Stone selected it as one of the 500 best albums of all time and even a world-famous writer like Salman Rushdie alluded to it in his 1998 novel Fury as “the Buena Vista summer.”
“Dos Gardenias,” “El Cuarto de Tula,” “Chan Chan,” “De camino a la vereda” and “Veinte años” are some of the songs included in the album, which obtained platinum certification for selling more than one million copies in the United States, UK, Argentina, Canada, Netherlands, Austria, Belgium and Switzerland.
Key to success, according to Juan de Marcos
“The success of the BVSC is not really due to the music; of course, that form of roomy sound influences, but it is the same thing that we have played for 100 years, it is the same Cuban music since the time of the Cuarteto de Oriente, of Ñico Saquito, of Miguel Matamoros, of Ignacio Piñeiro, it is the same Compay Segundo from before, with the duo Los Compadres. There is no difference between the music that was performed during those recording sessions and the one that we have played for many years,” said Juan de Marcos in an interview published in 2022 by the Cuban portal AM:PM.
The Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, also known as the Latin Recording Academy, is a multinational membership association located in Miami, United States.
The association is made up of music industry professionals, including musicians, producers, recording engineers and other creative and technical professionals, and is dedicated to improving the cultural status of music in Spanish and Portuguese and the quality of life of its creators, both inside and outside the United States.
The Latin Recording Academy is internationally known for the Latin Grammy Awards, awarded annually since 2000.
Author
OnCuba Staff
We’re the fines against Ry Cooder by the USA , because he worked on this project with Cuban Musicians in Cuba, ever quashed?