Everything happened very quickly and without prior coordination, Juan de Marcos González arrived in Havana in 1996 and brought together a group of big stars of Cuban music for a series of recordings in Areíto studios that belong to EGREM.
Of those study sessions came three discs of unquestionable quality: Buena Vista Social Club, A toda Cuba le gusta and Presentando a Rubén González. The first was a huge success in 1998 when it won the Grammy Award for Traditional Music and the documentary that accompanied it the Oscar nomination, which eventually formed the rebirth globally of traditional Cuban music.
Now, almost 19 years later, a dozen discs recorded that have sold millions of copies and countless concerts on five continents, the Buena Vista Social Club, which announced early last year his farewell tour, will launch into the market a new phonogram entitled Lost and Found
The new material owes its name to the fact that the most titles that comprise it were recorded in those study sessions in the mid-90s, in the origins of the legendary group, and bring around the time those gems among many never were included in the CDs released by the orchestra.
Lost and Found again makes available to the followers of the good Cuban music the talent of Compay Segundo performing the harmonic, the immaculate voice of Ibrahim Ferrer, and great bass performances by Orlando Lopez ‘Cachaito “.
The British label World Circuit, producer of all disks in the Buena Vista Social Club, announced on its website that the new album would be released this Monday, amid an intense tour of the group scheduled as part of the Farewell Tour that only for this year includes more than 60 concerts.
It would be nice -after the good news and based on the concerns of the members of the Buena Vista and many of his followers in the Island- consider two vital issues from a number of factors, such as the announced end of the project and the inevitable passage of time has made many of its founders are no longer among us.
Despite the global media impact of Buena Vista, the quality of their music, million-selling album and the duration of the project, in Cuba is an odyssey access for some way to these recordings, and in his many years of work they have remained virtually out of the scenarios of the country except the fixed space they have in the Café Habana at the Melia Cohiba Hotel since September 2014.
It seems ridiculous, but it is true. At a time when much is debate on cultural consumption and the efforts of the country’s institutions to offer people products with real artistic values, it is noteworthy that Cubans cannot have any of the many records of Buena Vista Social Club, for many the all star music of our most important of all time, or enjoy one of their concerts at any point in our country’s geography.
Sources of the Cuban Institute of Music assure that a national tour of Buena Vista Social Club is a dream they have been working on for quite a while, but the intense work schedule of the group and personal projects of its members have squandered every attempt. But it would be worthwhile to ask in so many years has not it been possible one concert at the Karl Marx or the University, as Eliades Ochoa told reporters few days ago?
As for the discs, well that’s another matter. During the presentation of Lost and Found in Havana some of its leading characters alluded to the purpose of World Circuit licensing discography of Buena Vista with a seal of the island intention that led to conversations that have so far not led to any place.
The truth is that time passes and takes its toll. In the list of Buena Vista Social Club are no longer Ruben Gonzalez, Ibrahim Ferrer, Compay Segundo, Cachaíto, Pío Leyva and other large, and one of the most cherished dreams of those who remain is to present to their compatriots, before the project say goodbye to the stage.
Much of the recent recognition that Cuban music enjoys worldwide is due to the Buena Vista Social Club, and within a few years it will be mandatory reference for understanding the country’s identity. Now is the time to pay the debt, the younger, and others to know firsthand the work of those who have managed to put the name of Cuba in uppercase.
