Product Description

The landmark Buena Vista Social Club concert at Carnegie Hall-July 1, 1998-was both the start of a remarkable story and the culmination of a dream. This one-time-only event elevated veteran Cuban performers like Ibrahim Ferrer, Ruben Gonzalez, Compay Segundo and Omara Portuondo to long-overdue status as international stars, and it transformed the BVSC's already critically acclaimed album into a commercial juggernaut. Since then, the Grammy-winning Buena Vista Social Club, recorded at Havana's Egrem Studio by guitarist Ry Cooder, has sold over eight million copies, making it the best-selling world music album ever, and the 'Buena Vista Social Club Presents' imprimatur has come to represent an unwavering mark of quality. The evening also became the dramatic heart of German filmmaker Wim Wenders' popular, Oscar-nominated documentary, also called Buena Vista Social Club. No one who saw it could be unmoved by the sight of an elderly performer like Ferrer taking in the skyscraper vistas of New York City or being overwhelmed by rapturous applause after he sang. This live set, then, is the crucial link to everything that happened before or after the Buena Vista Social Club as a group of musicians and as a brand; it's the album fans have eagerly awaited for a decade.
'With the bittersweet delicacy of a classic bolero,' said The New York Times in a review of the concert, 'the Buena Vista Social Club simultaneously celebrated the vitality and virtuosity of its musicians and mourned the era they embody.' The cultural significance of BVSC's performance was matched by its political momentousness; this concert offered a rare opportunity for these master Cuban musicians, coming together for the first time as a single ensemble, to freely play their classic songs for an American audience. This two-CD set preserves an important, but sadly evanescent, moment when borders and bureaucracies miraculously disappeared in the name of art. As singer Portuondo, who would subsequently embark on her own successful American tour, recalled, 'I felt triumphant seeing how we all worked together as a group, seeing how the music reached the audience...We felt so elated to be able to share our music. All of us had known each other for many years and played together many times, but it was a unique and unrepeatable occasion that our culture and our roots could reach the public through such a beautiful concert with all of us there together on the stage.'
To build awareness and anticipation for the live set, Nonesuch released a digital single of 'Chan Chan,' the concert's opening number and arguably the
BVSC's signature song, on July 1, the 10th anniversary of the concert date. The two-disc package also includes candid, often quite moving, first-person reminiscences from many of the surviving participants about the days-and hours-leading up to the concert and the once-in-a-lifetime experience of the evening itself. As album producer and fellow performer Cooder puts it, 'Listening to the tapes of the concert for the first time in ten years, I'm struck by what an amazing musical event it was. You'll never hear it again, people of this caliber working together. They were dramatic personalities and they're nearly all gone. There's nobody left like that anymore.'

Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Chan Chan
2. De Camino a la Vereda
3. El Cuarto de Tula
4. La Enganadora
5. Buena Vista Social Club
6. Dos Gardenias
7. Quizas, Quizas
8. Veinte Anos

Disc 2:

1. Orgullecida
2. Y Tu Que Has Hecho?
3. Siboney
4. Mandinga
5. Almendra
6. El Carretero
7. Candela
8. Silencio

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3759 in Music
• Released on: 2008-10-14
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: Live

Customer Reviews

If you're a fan, this ups the ante
The studio BVSC recording is timeless, I've had it since it first came out and I return to it often, I liken it to a warm breeze on a sunny Saturday afternoon, ultimately relaxing. This live version contains some of the same songs but a bunch of new ones as well. What makes this new recording really stand out is the energy that the live setting brings to this music. I can't really call it improvisational but there is an extra looseness to the proceedings, little instrumental accents where the studio versions seemed more "by the book". Easy 5 stars. It must be noted however, this could have fit on a single disc, but that's a micro caveat given the quality of the music itself. The notes are top notch as well.

Music that makes you happy
So it's Monday morning and you are just waking up and you're not ready for your week yet. What to do? 10 minutes of BVSC. Anything, whether it's Omara, Manuel, Ibrahim, Compay I swear 10 minutes of BVSC is enough to kick start your week. Then walk to work (I can, I am lucky) with a bit of Ibrahim on and you are ready to face anyone and anything!
Of course your parents also like this music and the whole world has spoken about the significance of this album, concert and phenomenon. My folks behave like young teens again trying to dance around the living room like in the old days. That is the music we listen to? Why not. The proof however is my 2 year old niece. I put on the Carnegie Hall CD, she stands on my feet and dances with me. I defy you to sit still. We can't. I travel to the forests of Asia, put my BVSC on and the locals start dancing automatically with me. Try it...

It's more than good music
Listen to them...it's a celebration of life. I can't imagine how anyone could not feel something deep inside while listening to this recording. Yes, it was stretched into 2 discs, but for the Amazon price that doesn't matter. But, what is most amazing to me is the obvious appreciation this group has for the chance to perform. They don't mail in a performance as we sometimes hear from others.