Buena Vista Social Club says ‘Adios,’ but its legacy lives on
Steve Hochman on
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Google the phrase “the Buena Vista Social Club of” and you’ll get page after page of references: There’s the Buena Vista Social Club of American folk (Jayme Stone’s Lomax Project) … the Buena Vista Social Club of Colombia (Ondatrópica) … the Buena Vista Social Club of Brazil (the Ipanemas) … the Buena Vista Social Club of the Dominican Republic (Bachata Roja) … the Buena Vista Social Club of Senegal (Orchestra Baobab) … the Buena Vista Social Club of gypsy music (the movie “Gypsy Caravan”) as well as the Buena Vista Social Club of South East Europe (the movie “Gypsy Spirit”) … the Buena Vista Social Club of Algiers (the Jewish-Muslin combo El Gusto Orchestra) … the Buena Vista Social Club of Detroit (the movie “Standing in the Shadows of Motown”) … and even the Buena Vista Social Club of the Arctic (The Union of Male Singers of Berlevag).
Well, the Buena Vista Social Club — the Buena Vista Social Club — is making what’s billed as its final tour, with the the classic Cuban music troupe boasting mix of surviving original stars of the pre-revolution Havana scene (singer Omara Portuando, guitarist-singer Eliades Ochoa) and some new-generation aces stepping in for the several singers and musicians who have passed away. As it does so, it leaves a legacy so big that it’s hard to believe that it’s just 18 years since English producer Nick Gold and American guitarist-producer Ry Cooder first convened Havana sessions convened of some of Cuba’s most significant pre-Castro musicians.
||| Stream: “Macusa”
Is it stretching things to suggest that BVSC global presence was key to the recent thaw in long-icy U.S.-Cuba relations, culminating with the opening of embassies in each respective nation this month? Yeah, probably. But the now-many albums, concerts and 1999 documentary film by German director Wim Wenders all certainly played a role in opening eyes, ears and minds to the riches of Cuban culture, independent of the politics.
“I don’t know,” says Barbarito Torres, who plays the laúd (sort of a lute-meets-mandolin) and at 59 is one of the younger members of the original assembly. “But for sure music connects and communicates a lot of things. Some people say that we are ambassadors. That’s already a great gift.”
“Some people say that we are ambassadors. That’s already a great gift.” — Barbarito Torres
Five of the 1987 All Stars are now gone: pre-Castro stars Compay Segundo (who died in 2003 at age 95), Rubén González (2003, 84), singer Ibrahim Ferrer (2005, 78) and bassist Orlando “Chachaíto” López (2009, 76), plus younger percussionist Angá Diaz, who wasn’t even born in the original Buena Vista ’50s era and passed in 2006 at age 45. But the group on the “Adios” tour spotlights some of the newer generation of musicians who have been inspired by this project’s success.
“We have a lot of great young musicians,” Torres says. “Luckily some of them are already part of the group, like our gifted young pianist Rolando Luna and trumpet player Guajirito Mirabal — [charter-member trumpeter] Guajiro’s grandson.”
Ry Cooder has some wry thoughts about the personal impact of the project: “If it wasn’t for this, we’d be living in a double-wide in Pacoima,” he quips.
He’s kidding. Well, mostly. His participation in and guidance of the BVSC kicked his already-acclaimed career(s) as a guitarist, solo artist, movie scorer and trailblazer in cross-cultural musical meet-ups (his 1993 “Talking Timbuktu” collaboration with Malian guitarist Ali Farka Touré remains a landmark) to another level. He saw the Social Club turn into a cottage industry of related albums and tours, adding up to one of the most dramatic, beloved successes in world music.
||| Stream: “El Carretero” (Live at Carnegie Hall, 1998)
It was hardly just him. The artists basked in global glory in the twilights of their lives after having been largely forgotten, but off both by the sweep of international affairs and the vagaries of fashions. And Gold diligently tracked down all the original songwriters or their heirs to share the considerable wealth being generated. “Everyone shared in the good fortune,” Cooder says. “Nick made sure everyone got paid — went to find them with bags of money.”
Adds Torres, “This was and is a great project that put Cuban classics in the first row of world music. The great success of this was completely unexpected for all of us and we are grateful to be part of it.
But there was one clear, tangible and inarguably positive impact on the world-at-large for which we are very grateful: The scintillating, swaying son, cha-chas and rhumbas of what is officially called Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club pushed the sounds of the Gypsy Kings from its ubiquitous perch in the sound systems of seemingly every middling eatery and boutique shop around the world. This in itself deserves recognition.
Though, on the other hand: Cigars.
||| Live: Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club and Diego El Cigala perform Wednesday at the Hollywood Bowl.
I don’t think it is stretching things to say that the BVSC had much to do with reintroducing Cuba to a generation of post cold war kids in the US.
Thanks for commenting, Mike! It’s very true. No question that it opened up a lot of ears and minds. And for a lot who lived through the Cold War as well.
[…] nights at the Fonda Theatre. A Place to Bury Strangers open. ► Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club [see our feature/interview] visits the Hollywood Bowl, joined by Diego El Cigala. ► Bloc Party does a pre-FYF Fest show at […]
[…] where that would take them, such as last summer being on stage at the Hollywood Bowl on the “Adios” tour of the Buena Vista Social Club, Portuondo one of the veteran stars of Cuban music at the heart of that endeavor that since first […]