Tripakis 1

Mikko Tripakis

Dr. Clark

ENGW 1111 Sec. 7

October 27, 2021

Buena Vista Social Club: Defying Cultural Borders Through Music

Fig. 1: Buena Vista Social Club album cover. Singer Ibrahim Ferrer walks down a street in 1996 Havana (Titelman).

Known for their mastery of Afro-Cuban son, bolero, and danzón music styles, Buena

Vista Social Club is a Cuban folk music group established by American guitarist Ry Cooder and

British record producer Nick Gold in 1996. Comprised of veteran Cuban musicians, many of

them having had successful careers in the heyday of Cuban folk music in the 1950s, Buena Vista

Social Club released their eponymous debut album in 1997 (González para. 16). Shortly after its

release, the album gained widespread international recognition, leading to a world tour, the
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revival of many of the group members’ careers, and the production of an Oscar-nominated

documentary on the group (Brackett, Hoard). However, Buena Vista Social Club also had a

broad impact on Cuban music and culture in general. Their success revitalized international

interest in Cuban music and culture, opening the way for other Cuban artists to succeed and even

contributing to the growth of the Cuban tourism industry. Buena Vista Social Club is not only a

recognized Cuban folk music ensemble, but a revitalizer of Cuban music and culture on a global

scale.

In 1959, the end of the Cuban Revolution and establishment of Fidel Castro’s

government in put an end to Cuba’s thriving 1950s music scene and disconnected Cuba from the

rest of the world. To understand how Buena Vista Social Club broke Cuba’s long cultural radio

silence and revitalized international interest in Cuban music and culture, we need to understand

the impacts of the revolution on the Cuban music scene. The 1950s, as Buena Vista Social Club

band leader Juan de Marcos González put it in a 2000 interview with PBS, was the “golden

period” of Afro-Cuban music (para. 17). During this time in Havana, segregated recreational

societies, or sociedades, hosted Cuban nightlife, dance, and music. Conjuntos and septetos, or

small bands consisting of brass, guitar, and percussion elements, toured these societies,

performing music styles like son, bolero, and danzón, which combined traditional Latin

American music with African influences such as bongo drums. Havana’s nightlife scene

attracted locals and foreign tourists alike and established itself as a hub for Cuban music and

culture. After Fidel Castro came to power in 1959, however, life in Cuba changed drastically.

The new Cuban government began closing nightclubs, casinos, and other venues associated with

the booming Cuban nightlife scene (Quirk p. 229). The government also instituted a program to

end racial discrimination, leading to the racial integration of sociedades. These rapid changes
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affected the music scene in Havana and the livelihoods of many Cuban musicians. According to

Robin Moore, a professor of music at the University of Texas at Austin, Castro’s government’s

hopes to build a “classless, colorblind” society had detrimental effects on Afro-Cuban music

styles which necessarily emphasized cultural and racial differences (1). As a result, the in

popularity of music styles like son declined, and many musicians, including future members of

Buena Vista Social Club, were forced to retire. By the early 1960s, music styles like son had

been replaced by American funk, jazz, and pop music (Mauleon para. 7). It would not be until

the success of Buena Vista Social Club in the late 1990s that Cuban music would regain its

golden period status.

To further understand the cultural impact Buena Vista Social Club had, it is important to

also understand the individual goals and experiences of its members. Many of the ensemble’s

musicians had successful careers during the golden period of Cuban music in the 1950s but were

forced to retire by the early 1960s due to the revolution. One such member was singer and

guitarist Francisco Repilado, professionally known as Compay Segundo, who came up playing

son music in conjuntos and septetos in the 1940s and became one of the most well-known Cuban

artists of the golden period (Orovio p. 176). In the early 1960s, after the Cuban revolution and its

detrimental effects on the Cuban music scene, Segundo was forced to retire. When he was

brought back for the Buena Vista Social Club project at the age of 79, Segundo was an important

contributor to the group’s international influence. Segundo’s main goal with his involvement in

the Buena Vista Social Club project was to preserve the tradition of music styles like son. “I play

that music because it's history. Young people want to know their roots. And there has to be

somebody who shows them, says, ‘Look here, this is the way they played it in yesteryear’ … this

is the history of music, that's what I represent,” Segundo explained in a 1998 interview with PBS
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(para. 2). Another key member of Buena Vista Social Club was Ry Cooder, who co-founded the

ensemble and produced its first album. Ranked by Rolling Stone at No. 8 on the magazine’s

2010 list of “The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time” and having had a long career in music

dating back to the 1960s, Cooder became involved in international collaborations such as Buena

Vista Social Club in the 1990s. Cooder’s goals with the project were to introduce golden period

Cuban music to an international audience and break down some of the cultural borders that stood

between Cuba and the West. “If you’re taught to hate and fear a people or a country [Cuba]…

it’s because of your ignorance of that country. You have no contact with it, nor do you know

what you're hating and fearing. Then you have to say, after listening to this music, who is it you

are afraid of?” Cooder argued in a 2000 interview with PBS (para. 44). We can see that the goals

and visions of the Buena Vista Social Club project and its members had broad cultural

implications and undoubtedly contributed to the group’s success in revitalizing international

interest in Cuban music and culture.

Buena Vista Social Club’s success in the years after 1996 revitalized the world’s interest

towards Cuban music and culture. According to The Economist, Buena Vista Social Club’s rapid

rise to popularity had a profound impact on the rest of the world’s interest towards Cuban culture

(“Now We Make Politics”). This resurgence in interest towards Cuba and Cuban music not only

provided a much-needed boost to the nation’s budding tourism industry in the late 1990s, but it

also paved the way for other Cuban musicians to succeed. From the emergence of more

traditional Cuban music groups such as Jesús Alemañy’s ¡Cubanismo! ensemble in 1998 to the

birth of the Cubaton (Cuban reggaeton music) movement in the early 2010s, Buena Vista Social

Club’s efforts empowered rising Cuban artists and contributed to a cultural thaw in relations

between Cuba and the West. The future of Cuban music, however, is still uncertain. While the
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restrictions of the long-standing United States embargo against Cuba have decreased since the

late 1990s, the economic and political sanctions of the embargo continue to suppress Cuban

cultural expression and development (“The Economic Impact…”). Nevertheless, the legacy left

by Buena Vista Social Club undeniably benefits the Cuban music scene to this day, empowering

artists and ignoring cultural boundaries.

In summary, Buena Vista Social Club is not just a Latin American folk music ensemble.

The group’s efforts have revitalized worldwide interest in Cuban music and culture, bringing

back in full force a music scene put to rest by the Cuban Revolution. While the future of the

Cuban music scene is still unclear, the group’s legacy lives on, provoking change and defying

cultural borders.
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Works Cited

Brackett, Nathan, and Christian Hoard. The New Rolling Stone Album Guide: Completely

Revised and Updated. Simon & Schuster, 2004.

Cooder, Ry. “Ry Cooder Interview #2 - Buena Vista Social Club.” PBS, Public Broadcasting

Service, 27 June 2000,

https://www.pbs.org/buenavista/musicians/bios/cooder_int_full_transript.html.

Fricke, David. “100 Greatest Guitarists: David Fricke's Picks.” Rolling Stone, Rolling Stone, 3

December 2010, https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/100-greatest-guitarists-

david-frickes-picks-146383/john-mclaughlin-2-90101/.

González, Juan de Marcos. “De Marcos Interview 2, Los Angeles – Buena Vista Social Club”

PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 30 March 2000,

https://www.pbs.org/buenavista/musicians/bios/demarcos_int_2_la_eng.html.

Mauleon, Rebeca. “Cuba: National Geographic World Music.” National Geographic, 17 Oct.

2002. Archived from the original,

web.archive.org/web/20110115034914/worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com/view/page.b

asic/country/content.country/cuba_11/.

Moore, Robin. “Black Music in a Raceless Society: Afrocuban Folklore and Socialism.” Cuban

Studies, vol. 37, University of Pittsburgh Press, 2006, pp. 1–32,

http://www.jstor.org/stable/24487475.

“Now We Make Politics.” The Economist, The Economist Newspaper, 15 Dec. 2006,

https://www.economist.com/news/2006/12/15/now-we-make-politics.

Orovio, Helio. Cuban Music from a to Z. London, Tumi Music Ltd, 2004.

Quirk, Robert. Fidel Castro. Norton, 1995.

Segundo, Compay. “Compay Interview (English) – Buena Vista Social Club” PBS, Public

Broadcasting Service, 1 January 1998,

www.pbs.org/buenavista/musicians/bios/compay_interview_eng.html.

“The Economic Impact of U.S. Sanctions with Respect to Cuba.” USITC, Feb. 2001,

https://www.usitc.gov/publications/industry_econ_analysis_332/2001/economic_impact_

us_sanctions_respect_cuba.htm.

Titelman, Suzan. “Buena Vista Social Club Album Cover”. 1996.