Chan Chan - Live, Buena Vista Social Club

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Description

Fantastic rendition of Chan Chan from the Buena Vista Social Club, recorded at the Tabarka International Jazz Festival in Tunisia in the summer of 2004 with Eliades Ochos.

The Buena Vista Social Club was a members club in Havana, Cuba that held dances and musical activities, becoming a popular location for musicians to meet and play during the 1940s. In the 1990s, nearly 50 years after the club was closed, it inspired a recording made by Cuban musician Juan de Marcos González and American guitarist Ry Cooder with traditional Cuban musicians, some of whom were veterans who had performed at the club during the height of its popularity.

The recording, named Buena Vista Social Club after the Havana institution, became an international success, and the ensemble was encouraged to perform with a full line-up in Amsterdam in 1998. German director Wim Wenders captured the performance on film, followed by a second concert in Carnegie Hall, New York City for a documentary that included interviews with the musicians conducted in Havana. Wenders's film, also called Buena Vista Social Club, was released to critical acclaim, receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary feature and winning numerous accolades including Best Documentary at the European Film Awards.

The success of both the album and film sparked a revival of international interest in traditional Cuban music and Latin American music in general. Some of the Cuban performers later released well-received solo albums and recorded collaborations with international stars from different musical genres.

The "Buena Vista Social Club" BVSC name became an umbrella term to describe these performances and releases, and has been likened to a brand label that encapsulates Cuba's "musical golden age" between the 1930s and 1950s.

The new success was fleeting for the most recognizable artists in the ensemble: Compay Segundo, Rubén González, and Ibrahim Ferrer, who died at the ages of ninety-five, eighty-four, and seventy-eight respectively; Segundo and González in 2003, then Ferrer in 2005.



* * * Lyrics * * *

De Alto Cedro voy para Marcan
Llego a Cueto, voy para Mayar

El cario que te tengo
No te lo puedo negar
Se me sale la babita
Yo no lo puedo evitar

Cuando Juanica y Chan Chan
En el mar cernan arena
Como sacuda el jibe
A Chan Chan le daba pena

Limpia el camino de paja
Que yo me quiero sentar
En aqul tronco que veo
Y as no puedo llegar

De alto Cedro voy para Marcan
Lleg a Cueto voy para Mayar

ENGLISH

From Alto Cedro, I go to Marcan
I arrive in Cueto, and then I go towards Mayar.

The love I have for you
is something I cannot deny
I drool all over
I cannot help it.

When Juanica and Chan Chan
sifted sand at the beach

Chan Chan felt sorry/shame

Clean the path of straw
cause I want to sit down
on that tree trunk I see
and that way I'm never going to arrive

From Alto Cedro, I go to Marcan
I arrive in CUeto, and then I go towards Mayar.

http://www.buenavistasocialclub.com/
video: Stephen Smith
http://www.mycompass.ca
http://twitter.com/mycompasstv