Marcelo Fernandez Bitar
08/23/2021 6:00 AM
Clarín.com
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Updated 08/23/2021 7:49 AM
It seems incredible, but a quarter of a century has passed since the recording of the anthological project named
Buena Vista Social Club
, an album
recorded in Cuba in 1996 by Ry Cooder
, which brought together a true dream-team of traditional Cuban music at Egrem studios. .
There were the singers Compay Segundo, Ibrahim Ferrer and Omara Portuondo, the bassist Orlando “Cachaíto” López, the guitarist Elíades Ochoa and the pianist Rubén González, among others.
The album, which some detractors described as "old musicians making old music", sold an impressive eight
million copies, won a Grammy and brought international fame to all the Cuban musicians who participated
, several of them eight years old.
A homonymous film directed by the great Wim Wenders, who had previously worked with Cooder in
Paris, Texas, was also released
.
To Carnegie Hall.
The members of the Buena Vista Social Club achieved in 1996 an unthinkable visibility.
Now, to celebrate this anniversary, a preview has already been released with the video of the song
La Pluma
, sung by Compay, and
on September 17 the long-awaited double album will be released
, both in digital format as double vinyl and double CD.
By phone from California, Ry Cooder, 74, confesses that
he had forgotten that there were songs that were left off the album
.
"I suppose what happened," he reflects, "was that the owner of the record label thought that making a double album was going to come out at a very expensive price, which would limit distribution, unlike an edition with a single CD."
And complete: "So, we do not use all the songs. I did not listen to them 25 years ago, and it is incredible because they are very good!".
The cover album that Ry Cooder created 25 years ago, a postcard from Havana.
All-terrain musician
To all this, it should be added that
Ry Cooder was summoned to the project due to his extraordinary previous career
: at just 20 years of age, at the end of the '60s he had been a sessionist for figures such as Captain Beefheart, the Rolling Stones, Neil Young and Nancy. Sinatra.
In the following decade he began to record his own albums that ranged from folk and blues to Tex-Mex, rock and R&B sound.
Later, his versatility and restless spirit earned him being called upon in the '80s to make the music for films by directors such as Walter Hill and Wim Wenders;
for example
Streets of Fire
,
Crossroads
and the aforementioned
Paris, Texas
.
His ductility reached new milestones when he joined musicians from India and Africa such as Ali Farka Touré in the 1990s.
From there to exploring Cuban music there was only one step.
-The original project was very different from “Buena Vista Social Club”, right?
-As it is.
Nick Gold, from the World Circuit label, called me to tell me about his idea: to bring West African musicians to Cuba to see what would happen when bringing them together, because Cuban music had been very popular in Africa in the 1950s.
Ibrahim Ferrer, Eliades Ochoa, Compay Segundo and Puntillita Licea.
Photo Susan Titelman
I was not sure if they could be amalgamated, because the pulse and rhythm were slightly different on each continent: Africans always accentuated in black, while Cubans follow the rhythmic pattern called “clave”.
A wink of destiny
We were going to find out in the studio, but I arrived in Cuba and Nick told me that the Africans had not been able to arrive due to passport problems, so fate led us to do what we did.
And what we got was great and everyone liked it.
It was a happy ending, but
what we did in Cuba was completely accidental
.
"For me, Cubans and their culture only exist in Cuba, because Cuban music does not stay the same when it travels, but changes, just as it happened when Cubans first emigrated to New York, long before going to Miami."
-Do you think that this album could have been made in Los Angeles, or would it be impossible without the climate achieved in Havana?
-The climate achieved in Egrem was what determined the result we achieved.
For me, Cubans and their culture only exist in Cuba, because
Cuban music does not stay the same when it travels
, but changes, just as it happened when Cubans first emigrated to New York, long before going to Miami.
Instead,
playing that music in Cuba is like traveling back in time
.
On top of that, they were musicians who were very old, so it was the way they played they always had.
That's why it was important to record everything right there, where that music is made.
That place is the origin, the very essence.
The same goes for New Orleans jazz
, which doesn't sound the same when played far from
New Orleans
.
And Hawaiian music doesn't sound the same when it's taken out of Hawaii.
-I suppose you were very proud to see the worldwide popularity that Compay, Ibrahim and Omara had after the success of the album.
-Yes.
That shows that if you have something really beautiful and wonderful, and people listen to it, it can have an impact and mean something.
That's what happened, because at that time people loved that record, and when they saw the movie they met the musicians and understood what it was all about.
Those musicians were playing a style that was almost pre-World War II!
For all of them it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity
, because they are things that can only happen once.
Compay Segundo with Ry Cooder, in the genesis of the project.
Photo Nick Gold
-In your case it happened several times, because you also had enormous success with movie soundtracks.
-It's a bit different, because when working on a movie you are one of a very large team, and the music is a bit incidental, almost secondary.
It was not my idea of success, but it was interesting because you learn a lot and it is always good to learn new things.
-Being an American, how was it possible to get to Cuba?
- At that time it was arrived via Mexico, changing of airplane.
Obviously
that brought me problems, because we Americans couldn't go to Cuba.
They discovered me years later when the movie came out.
The record may not have raised the partridge, but the movie was a huge success around the world, so
the State Department did a little research
.
Ry Cooder was fascinated by the landscape he found 25 years ago in Havana, where nothing changed.
EFE / Ernesto Mastrascusa
-Do you remember the impression of being in Havana 25 years ago?
-I loved!
That is exactly what I like, because I am not very interested in the modern world as we know it.
I like old things and especially old music, because I grew up in another era and all of that is the most interesting thing there is.
And
in Havana everything that was seen was old and there were no new things.
The past was right there!
It was like they didn't live in the modern world.
"They are sick of being poor and hungry"
-What do you think is going to happen in Cuba during the next few months?
-It's difficult to predict.
The Castro brothers are no more and I think that at this point people have had enough.
There is a young generation that wants better food and to join the world
and have things that other countries have, like clothes and the Internet.
They are sick of being poor and hungry.
And the government is madly corrupt
, so it doesn't help them.
"The Castro brothers are no more and I think that at this point people have had enough. There is a young generation that wants better food and to join the world and have things that other countries have, such as clothes and the Internet. They are tired of being poor and be hungry. And the government is hopelessly corrupt. "
Of course, it is difficult to say that there is a government that helps people, but there is a whole world wave of changes, and it seems to me that Cubans can no longer bear the situation they are experiencing.
But
it is still a police state
, so there will be more conflict and violence, so I don't know how it will all end.
What the US government does also has a lot to do with it, because
imposing sanctions on Cuba is the worst thing it could do, because that doesn't hurt the government
but ends up hurting the people.
Governments never do the right thing and cannot be trusted with hope or trust!
Right here in the United States we are in trouble, because of the coronavirus and the fact that the government did not do what it should have done.
And the biggest problem we have is that the country is divided: half believe one thing and the other half believe the opposite.
Ry Cooder admits that in a country where half the people do not want to get vaccinated, it is not convenient to go on tour.
Instagram photo
Cooder in time of pandemic
-How was your musical activity last year, during the pandemic? You obviously didn't go on tour.
-We did the tour last year, with the new album
The Prodigal Son
, the best we could, but in the middle I got sick and had to stop to recover.
The problem that musicians have with the coronavirus is that we cannot do anything because it is not advisable to go on tour in a country where half of the people are vaccinated and the other half do not want to be vaccinated.
For someone like me, who is 74 years old, you cannot go out to play because it is not safe.
So I didn't do much except move to a different area in California, to a smaller, quieter town.
The very idea of the future for musicians is a problem.
I told my manager that I don't want to go on tour and I can't imagine how it could be done.
They are even currently canceling shows and festivals again.
The new edition of Buena Vista Social Club will have additional material and will be released on September 17th.
-However, there is a recent photo of you on your Instagram playing next to the Taj Mahal.
-Yes.
We recently finished making an album together, Taj, my son Joachim and myself.
It's old-fashioned blues and we had a lot of fun doing it.
I like to make records!
For me, the most interesting thing is to make an album, because each time it is different and it is a new challenge.
I've been making records for 50 years by now, so I know a few things about it.
It took me a lifetime to learn them, but I feel like
now I can make really good records.
The problem is that nobody buys them!
I'm very curious to see if people want to hear this anniversary album from Buena Vista, if they like it and if it means something to them.
We'll see.
For me, the
Internet is something that ruined the world
and changed the recording industry.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Ry Cooder (@rycooderofficial)
-What do you miss about the old record industry? Before there were records, record stores and radio broadcasts. Not now.
-Exactly.
The key was the radio, because the quality of the transmissions made the records sound very good.
It always amazed me that the singles I bought didn't sound as good as they did on the radio!
Listening to a James Brown or Hank Snow song on AM radio in a car was a really wonderful experience.
So I decided to be a musician and record albums.
My only ambition was to make records, and luckily I was able to do it.
"Now I can make really good records. The problem is that nobody buys them! I am very curious to see if people want to listen to this anniversary album from Buena Vista, if they like it and if it means something to them."
-Do you have any special memories of your time as a session player, when you played with all the greats?
-It was like going to work: you went with your car, you parked it, you grabbed your instruments, you went into the studio, you sat down and asked what they were going to do today.
Someone would appear with a song, they would play it, record it, and drive home.
The thing is, they were always very interesting things, but I can't remember them because there were so many!
I was very young, just a teenager starting to record as a session player, and it was a fantastic world.
-What is your biggest challenge today, keep learning? It is said that one never finishes learning to play his instrument.
-Exactly.
It is so, absolutely.
It is always different.
IT IS
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