:: Buena Vista Social Club - Hecho En Cuba

Buena Vista Social Club

It's been six years since the release of the Buena Vista Social Club album and the start of an unprecedented global love affair with Cuban music. The Buena Vista phenomenon allowed many of the band members to kick-start successful solo careers, after years of neglect, and spawned dozens of compilations, some of high quality and others cheap knock-offs. In a surprising departure from their usual roster of DJs and mix albums, Ultra Records has created a spin-off label called Escondida that ostensibly will be a home for world music artists. Hecho En Cuba is their first release and compiles older recordings from the Buena Vista catalogue, performed by all of the key players: Compay Segundo, Ibrahim Ferrer, Ruben Gonzalez, Eliades Ochoa and Omara Portuondo. Some of the recordings are original versions of tracks that made these musicians famous in their own country and later appeared on Buena Vista Social Club as newer versions produced by Ry Cooder. There are some rare, previously unreleased tracks too and they again demonstrate a high calibre of performance. It all sounds simple and relaxed, but also fascinating in the images depicted. Musicians of all kinds would do well to observe the instrumental nuances and the romanticism of how the instruments interact. Well worth a listen.