[Tourism] Buena Vista Social Club: Cuban Music Recaptures the World's Attention

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The Buena Vista Social Club (BVSC) is a multi-faceted project that sought to revitalize a traditional Cuban genre, called son, which had its heyday from the 1920s to the 1950s. BVSC includes various media, including recorded albums by various artists, a celebrated documentary by Wim Wenders, and many international tours. The BVSC was initiated in 1996 by American guitarist Ry Cooder and British world music producer Nick Gold and was chronicled in Wim Wenders' 1999 documentary.

The BVSC has had a major impact on the Cuban tourism industry, as many neo-traditional son groups have been formed in the past two decades to cater to the desires of tourists to hear similar music. If something like this happened today in the U.S., it would be akin to Chuck Berry and Elvis tribute groups springing up all over the country.

Key Takeaways: Buena Vista Social Club
Buena Vista Social Club revitalized the traditional Cuban genre called son, which was popular between the 1920s to the 1950s, introducing it to a contemporary audience.
BVSC includes recorded albums by various artists like Compay Segundo and Ibrahim Ferrer, a documentary by Wim Wenders, and international tours.
BVSC has been a major draw for the Cuban tourism industry, and new son groups have been formed to cater to tourists.
Although BVSC is beloved among international audiences, Cubans—while they appreciate the tourism it brings in—are notably less interested in or enthusiastic about it.
Cuba's Musical Golden Age
The period between 1930 and 1959 is often spoken about as Cuba's musical "golden age." It began with the "rumba craze" that was kicked off in New York in 1930 when Cuban bandleader Don Azpiazu and his orchestra performed "El Manicero" (The Peanut Vendor). From that point on, Cuban popular dance music—specifically the genres son, mambo and cha-cha-cha, which each have distinct features—became a global phenomenon, circulating to Europe, Asia, and even Africa, where it eventually inspired the emergence of Congolese rumba, now known as soukous.

The name "Buena Vista Social Club" was inspired by a danzón (a popular Cuban genre in the late 19th and early 20th centuries) composed by Orestes López in 1940 that paid homage to a social club in the Buena Vista neighborhood, in the outskirts of Havana. These recreational societies were frequented by Black and mixed-race Cubans during a period of de-facto segregation; non-white Cubans weren't allowed in at the high-end cabarets and casinos in which white Cubans and foreigners socialized.