Volume 46, Number 1 · January 14, 1999
Cuban Hit Parade
By Alma Guillermoprieto
Buena Vista Social Club
recording produced by Ry Cooder
Nonesuch 79478-2, $10.99, cassette
Afro-Cuban All Stars: A Toda Cuba le Gusta
recording produced by Nick Gold, by Juan de Marcos González
Nonesuch 79476-2, $10.99, cassette
Introducing…Rubén González
recording produced by Nick Gold
Nonesuch 79477-2, $10.99, cassette
For two weeks in March of 1996, at a shabby recording studio in downtown Havana, a group of mostly elderly Cuban musicians gathered for a series of recording sessions under the aegis of Ry Cooder, the US guitarist, composer, and producer. In the course of those few sessions, some produced directly by Cooder, others produced and arranged by the Cuban musician Juan de Marcos González, the artists recorded enough material for three compact discs: Introducing…Rubén González, Afro-Cuban All Stars, and the album by which the sessions and all three discs have collectively become known, Buena Vista Social Club.
Review, 2287 words
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