Buena Vista Social Club at Carnegie Hall

GONZALEZ, Ruben. Chanchullo. Nonesuch. 2000. $16.52.RG, p; others incl. Ibrahim Ferrer, Cheikh Lo, voc.BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB. Buena Vista Social Club at Carnegie Hall. Nonesuch. 2 CDs. 2008. $18.38.Ibrahim Ferrer, Omara Portuondo, Compay Segundo, voc; Ruben Gonzalez, p; Barbarito Torres, laud; Ry Cooder, guit; others.MARIZA. Fado Tradicional. EMI Import. 2011. $18.99.M, voc; 2 guit, 1 b guit accompaniment.ALAGNA, Roberto. Pasion. Deutsche Gramophon. 2011. $14.84.RA, voc; Lila Downs, voc; others.A double dose (actually triple because one album has two CDs) of Cuban musicians, an album of traditional Portuguese fado music, and a surprisingly effective homage to popular music sung in Spanish, from Mexican mariachi to Argentinian tango. Not a bad assemblage of Latin popular music in a variety of styles and rhythms, all admirably performed.First the Cubans.Master pianist (and showman! watch him play on the music documentary, Buena Vista Social Club) Ruben Gonzalez was eighty-one when this album was recorded but you wouldn't know it from his playing, which is supple and graceful and always, always driven by an impeccable sense of rhythm and drama, which allowed him to up the temperature even on the slowest and most stately numbers. His band, which had played with him for ages, matches him all the way through. This is very good, accessible, lovely music, and the up tunes will get your blood flowing faster.Two years earlier, Gonzalez, then a mere seventy-nine, was one of the stars of the multi-star concert of the wonderful group of musicians who made the movie, Buena Vista Social Club, such a treat. Here are Ibrahim Ferrer, "Cuba's Nat `King' Cole," his feminine counterpart Omara Portuondo, Compay Segundo (he is allowed a solo lead spot on one of the tunes), laud virtuoso Barbarito Torres (the laud is kind of a lute), and others, including American Ry Cooder on slide guitar. (Listen to Cooder's backing lines on Ferrer and Portuondo's Silencio.) Two of my favorite songs from the movie are reprised, the wonderful Chan Chan and Ferrer and Portuondo's duet on the ravishingly beautiful love ballad Silencio (in a quite different version than in the movie). All- I mean ALL- of the musicians are first rate. They all seem to have ego in wanting to perform well on their own songs but their egos don't clash when helping each other out on other performer's numbers. Above all, they all seem so happy.It makes for an infectious album of joyous music. An album like this is irreplaceable. Some of these performers are gone now -Segundo and Gonzalez in 2003, Ferrer in 2005--and the others are getting older and older. (Omara Portuondo is 82 now.) We lost thirty years of listening to these wonderful artists music because of the blockade. Thank goodness we have the opportunity to make up for it now.Then there's Mariza. The music on this album is, as the album title says, more traditional than in some of her other albums, where she has used more modern instrumentation, rhythms and song styles. (Transparente [2005] for example, with its marvelous "Meu Fado Meu.") The backup is more traditional also -an acoustic trio of two guitars and a bass guitar. As always, Mariza has what singers of my age call "pipes." Her voice is strong and plangent (not "plangent" in the sense of loud and echoing; "plangent" as in melancholy, conveying emotion). She bends notes freely and well and her grace note passages are models of popular singing. Perhaps the most memorable of the songs is "Ai, Esta Pena de Mim," which is sung partly unaccompanied. She is joined for the final song by a rather histrionic male singer whom I could clearly have done without. Excluding the final song, how do I feel about the album? It's good but best in small bites. The problem is the lack of variety. Song by song, this is strong stuff but listened to in one dose, it's a bit much.Roberto Alagna is an operatic tenor. Again, very good pipes, and because he sings opera, a florid, highly dramatic style. Usually, that would be the Kiss of Death for me, whose middle name could be Anti-Florid. But I like the album quite a bit. Many of these songs are hyper-dramatic to start with, and Alagna's sympathy for them is catching. The selections are wide ranging in style and mood, from tango to mariachi-like. I especially enjoyed "Historia de un Amor," sung in duet with the astonishing Mexican singer, Lila Downs. This is a very good album.

I bought this on CD 5 years ago. Now the vinyl.The pressing is very good, flat and very quiet. The recording is also very good.I got mine from TheProductsHub.... it took a long time to be delivered. The vinyl is pressed in UK and then send it to their office in US and from there to me. Took many weeks, no tracking, but it arrived in perfect shape.The wait was worth it, however they should advertise the lead time.

Superb in every way--this is the temporary fix for all of us who watched Wim Wender's documentary and were enraptured by the film clips of the BVSC members at Carnegie--all too brief clips of masters at work. So, for those of you who want a work of art, a masterpiece of voice, guitar, piano, trumpet, saxophone, drums and more, this is it!Two small bumps: When can we get the DVD of the concert in full? I am sure I am not the only one who craves to SEE these musicians actually singing and playing!And finally, it's great that Ry Cooder was the mastermind behind this and so my following complaint is muted but...it's annoying that HIS name is top of the CD's sticker, HIS name is top of the poster seen on the cover, and when you watch BVSC, the film clips often cut to Cooder, who had about 2% of the total musical load in this whole thing. BVSC is, IMHO, solely and fully about a group of amazing Cubans, not a white guy from the USA. Cooder is of course an excellent musician in his own right but he does NOT deserve to be shown equally with Ibrahim, Ruben, Compay, etc. It feels like egoistic pandering to the producer, and it's annoying. Cash your producer checks Ry and enjoy the fruits of your labor but DON'T try and hog the limelight from the BVSC! After 80 years of obscurity, they deserve it all. But thank you for bringing them to the world!

Although a big fan of Buena Vista Social Club and its performers, I was expecting the whole Carnegie Hall show including comments between songs and also the reprise of Chan Chan at the end of the show. I had the oportunity to see Compay Segundo twice and his comments between songs were worth the admission ticket for the show. The same could be said for Ibrahim which I also saw in concert.The performance and recording are very good, and considering the historic value of the event it is a must have assuming you already have the studio album. I wished they had released the whole Carnegie Hall and Amsterdam shows on DVD instead.As another writer mentioned, this release could have been done on one CD instead of two CD's. It appears as very greedy behavior from Nonesuch to release this show as a two CD set. I hope the performers and the families of those who have died will receive the appropriate royalties from this release.

This is a nice way to cap off what has been the BVSC phenomenon of the past 10 years with a lovely 2-CD set of the Carnegie Hall concert featured in the hit documentary. All the familiar voices are here, the songs sound wonderful, and there is a handsome booklet to go along with the CD's. The only problem is that the two CD's probably could have been squeezed onto one as you get barely more than 90 minutes of music with little in the way of extras. Seems to me that the way to have gone here is with a CD-DVD set that provided a much fuller testament of this breathtaking concert in its entirety. But, I imagine that will come with the next anniversary of this event.

Several years ago, I bought our son this same set of CD's by the Buena Vista Social Club at Carneigie Hall. The music is even better than I remembered. I enjoyed the leaflet enclosed with the CD's, providing information about how this concert came to be held. This information helped me have an even greater appreciation for the musicians and the music. I am on a mission to find out more about every musician, and create a book report for the book club I belong to.

Love this music. The CD comes with the printed words to the songs in Spanish and English. This is the real deal and I am so glad I got a copy.

Excellent.

This is, quite simply, one of the most powerful and emotional records I have ever heard. The Buena Vista Social Club deserve every ounce of fame and every second in the limelight - they are an absolutely fantastic band and they ROCK!! From the opening chords of Chan Chan, through a blistering rendition of El Cuarto del Tula and lovely surprises like Rubén Gonzalez' La Enganadora to Ibrahim Ferer and Omara Portuondo's tender finalé, the atmosphere and energy of this performance literally crackle out of the speakers.This release is long overdue, and the vinyl edition is beautifully presented and a fine 180gm pressing. I think it will go down as one of the all time great live records, in the same league as The Wailers at the Lyceum.It reduced me to tears hearing it - I'd give it ten stars if I could!SUBLIME!!

Hi, Their music / Buena .... / is original and original. I have the first CD, but their Carnegie Hall concert is history. Every collector of 10 important disks that has one, this must be included in the top ten. I can write who the others are (in my opinion) if you are curious. Thanks R.

A truly inspiring group of musicians who light up the lives of so many with their humility and incredible virtuosity. A real treasure.

From the opening stocatto chords that provoke the applause to greet "Chan Chan", this is a feast for the ears. The musicians (many who were well into their twilight years) play with an enthusiasm, humour and real joy that puts many egotistical grumpy, cynical modern bands to shame. This is not the art of the ego, it is the melody and rhythm of Havana and the Cuban people, with all the Band's determination to play to their peak on what they will have seen as their "big night of nights" on this tour - Carnegie Hall in the USA - where Cuba has been vilified and discriminated against since the revolution.This is folk, jazz, dance -but more than that- sheer beauty and joy combined with technical excellence and a real feel for the music and sound they create. I defy you to hear see them play and not leave with a smile on your face!But while the Buena Vistas are the first of the Cuban bands to be heard in the west, be in no doubt that there are many younger and possibly even better bands still waiting to be heard in the west.I would just love the success of the Buena Vistas to prompt record companies now to snap up bands like Los Cuarteto Hermanos (who most of you are yet to hear outisde of Havana) and their wonderful violin player Elisabeth Corralles so we can all hear them for ourselves.Bill, Loughborough

Proof that Cuban musicians of any age could reproduce the magic of the original album. The audience must have been entranced.