Buena Vista Social Club
Juan de Marcos González, the founder of the Afro-Cuban All Stars and Sierra Maestra, had a long cherished dream of recording the music of Cuba’s golden era, the 1940s and 1950s, with the original musicians of that time. This was a dream that he shared with Nick Gold, the owner of World Circuit. Marcos was particularly keen to record the old masters together with a selection of the leading musicians from the new generation - this became the Afro-Cuban All Stars. Gold’s dream project was to record a collaboration between a number of African and Cuban guitarists. He invited Ry Cooder to participate, the two having worked together before on Ali Farka Toure’s Grammy Award-winning "Talking Timbuktu". Cooder replied within hours saying he would be there. The Africans failed to make the trip but recording went ahead anyway, the unlikely turn in events would result in the Buena Vista Social Club.
Related Artists: Compay Segundo, Rubén González, Orlando Cachaito Lopez, Manuel Guajiro Mirabal, Omara Portuondo