Played this album again last night and it occurred to me that other members may not know of this wondrous work and the story behind it.
In the late 90's, musician Ry Cooder re-discovered a group of Cuban musicians (members of the
'Buena Vista Social Club'), most of whom were in the twighlight of their lives..
Reuniting an ensemble of old friends, encouraging musicians who hadn't played/sung for decades to perform again, and culminating in a major concert at NYC's Carnegie Hall, a 'word of mouth' cult album, and an academy award nominated film documentary, which together archive this unique moment in musical history.
If the brief story above doesn't speak enough to you of the quality recorded, the album itself surely will..
The
Buena Vista album is great for:
Sunday mornings
Soundtrack an intimate dinner
Relax you in a traffic jam
Help seduce the opposite sex
A beach bar at sunset
On an iPod after your most stressful day at work.........
Although musically a classic latin flavour, a step into more contemporary arena occurred two years ago with the release of
'Rhythms Del Mundo' - taking some of the flavour and (surviving) members of the originl B.V.S.C. and marrying them up with the likes of The Kaiser Chiefs, Coldplay, Arctic Monkeys, Faithless, Maroon 5, Franz Ferdinand, U2, Sting and Radiohead.
The full classic story is
HERE
and info on the recent R.D.M. album can be found
HERE