The Buena Vista Social Club Tickets

Buena Vista Social Club
Once a members club in Havana, Cuba that held only dances and musical activities, Buena Vista Social Club is now an important pillar of Cubas burgeoning tourist industry.

The international success of the Buena Vista Social Club has contributed remarkably to revive the interest in traditional Cuban music and Latin American music as a whole.

Throughout 40s, the club was a popular location for musicians to meet and play. The Club was closed for some reasons; however, nearly after 50 years in 1990s, the place inspired a recording made by Cuban musician Juan de Marcos Gonz?lez and American guitarist Ry Cooder.

In the recording, named Buena Vista Social Club, Juan de Marcos Gonz?lez and Ry Cooder were shown with traditional Cuban musicians. Some of the musicians were veterans who had performed at the club during the height of its popularity.

The recording turned out to be a huge success and gained international acclaim. In 1998, the ensemble was encouraged to perform with a full line-up in Amsterdam. Their performance was captured on film by German director Wim Wenders.

Wenders's film, also called Buena Vista Social Club, was released to critical acclaim. It won numerous accolades including Best Documentary at the European Film Awards.

The Buena Vista Social Club members-only club is situated in the populous Marianao neighborhood, in Cuba's capital Havana. Some of the prominent musicians that performed at the club during the 1930s and 40s described the 1940s as an era of real musical life in Cuba.

Around that time there was very little money to earn, but everyone played music because they really wanted to. 40s also saw the birth of the jazz influenced mambo, the charanga, and various dance forms. Some of the popular dance forms were the pachanga and the cha-cha-cha.

In 1996, American guitarist Ry Cooder had been invited to Havana by British world music producer Nick Gold of World Circuit Records to record an album. Nick Gold wanted Ry Cooder to have album recorded with the ensemble of Cuban musicians.

The album was recorded in just six days and entitled Buena Vista Social Club. Upon release on 17 September 1997, the album became a huge word of mouth hit. It contained fourteen tracks and spawned hit singles like Chan Chan, the Buena Vista's calling card, La Bayamesa and title song Buena Vista Social Club.

Selling more than five million copies, the album Buena Vista Social Club won a Grammy award in 1998. This rebirth of interest in Cuban music and club benefitted Cuba's burgeoning tourist industry. A magazine hailed this rebirth as In the tourist quarters of Old Havana it can seem at times as if every Cuban with a guitar has come out to sing the songs that Buena Vista made famous.

The success of the recording, film and then album of Buena Vista Social Club has certainly sparked a revival of international interest in traditional Cuban music and Latin American music as a whole.

These recordings are also believed to serve as a symbol of the power of Cuban music, which have contributed to Cuban music regaining the status it always had in Latin American and world music.

Some of the musicians of the Buena Vista Social Club ensemble later released their solo albums to critical acclaim. If you havent been to Buena Vista Social Club performances, make it now. Its your chance to see them performing LIVE in your City and feel the experience!