Buena Vista Social Club - Musicians

Musicians

A total of twenty musicians contributed to the recording including Ry Cooder's son Joachim Cooder, (b. 1978) who at the time was a 19 year old scholar of Latin percussion and provided drums for the band. Ry Cooder himself played slide guitar on several songs and helped produce and mix the album, afterwards describing the sessions as "the greatest musical experience of my life". Ry Cooder had been a successful American guitarist since the 1960s, recording with Captain Beefheart and the Rolling Stones. Known for his slide guitar work, his interest in roots music led him to record music from diverse genres including Tex-Mex, Hawaiian and Tuvan throat singing. He was later prosecuted and fined $25,000 by U.S. authorities for his work on the Buena Vista Social Club, having broken the Trading with the Enemy Act, a clause that forms part of the ongoing United States embargo.

Many of the Cuban musicians who featured on the album were at their musical prime in the 1940s and 50s. After the success of the 1997 record they became known in Cuba as "Los Superabuelos" (the Super-Grandfathers). Juan de Marcos González, a Cuban folk revivalist who was younger than the bulk of performers introduced Cooder to veteran singer Ibrahim Ferrer. Ferrer (1927–2005) had been lead vocalist for bandleader Pacho Alonso, and also sang for Beny Moré, Cuba's most prominent performer in the 1940s, before his soft singing style fell out of fashion. Having found the semi-retired seventy year old Ferrer taking his daily stroll on the streets of Havana and shining shoes for extra money, González signed him up for the project. Cooder later described the discovery as something that happens "perhaps once in your life", and Ferrer as "the Cuban Nat King Cole". Ferrer became a prominent member of the group, and the success of the record was attributed in part to the popularity of his vocal performances. The singer went on to record a number of successful solo records and performed with contemporary acts such as the Gorillaz before his death in 2005 at the age of 78.

Virtuoso pianist Rubén González (1919–2003) also had further success releasing two solo albums after working on the initial project. González was a pianist for bandleader Arsenio Rodríguez in the 1940s, and is attributed with helping establish Cuban piano styles that were to dominate Latin music for the remainder of the century. Despite suffering from arthritis and not even owning a piano at the time of recording with Cooder, (due to an infestation of termites whilst living in South America) the American guitarist described him as "the greatest piano soloist I have ever heard". After the success of the 1997 record, González recorded and toured with bassist Orlando "Cachaito" López, who was the only musician to play on all of the songs on the Buena Vista Social Club album. "Cachaito" (1933–2009) was the son of multi-instrumentalist Orestes López and the nephew of fellow bassist Israel "Cachao" López, the brothers often attributed with inventing the mambo. Named after his prestigious uncle, "Cachaito" (little Cachao) was a leading Descarga musician in the 1950s and '60s, a musical form that takes its influence from modern jazz, and he became the ever present bassist at Buena Vista Social Club performances and recordings.

One of the first to come on board the project was Compay Segundo (born Máximo Francisco Repilado Muñoz) (1907–2003), who at 89 years old was the oldest of the performers. During a discussion about politics, the veteran Segundo said: "Politics? This new guy is good. The 1930s were rough. That's when we had the really bad times."

Segundo was an accomplished guitarist and tres player who started his career playing with established bands of the 1920s and 30s. In the 40s, he gained fame as one half of the Los Compadres duo, and then formed Los Muchachos, a band that he led until his death in 2003. For the Buena Vista Social Club recording and performances, Segundo played a unique seven-stringed tres, an armonico, which he devised himself, and sung, mostly doing background vocals, in a number of songs in his baritone voice including the self penned opening track, Chan Chan, with Eliades Ochoa as the leading voice. Cowboy hat wearing Eliades Ochoa (b.1946), who had collaborated previously with Segundo and was a well established traditional Cuban folk performer, played guitar and sang for the group. Omara Portuondo (b.1930), a bolero singer and the only female in the collective, sang "Veinte Años" on the record and duetted with Segundo and Ibrahim Ferrer during live performances.

Other performers included singer Pío Leyva (1917–2006) who had been working with Segundo since the early 1950s, and fellow and singer Manuel "Puntillita" Licea (1927–2000), who had performed with Celia Cruz and Benny Moré. Additional improvised percussion was provided by Amadito Valdés and Carlos González. The youngest established member of the group was Barbarito Torres, (b.1956) a virtuoso player of the laúd, a Cuban offshoot of the lute. Trumpet was provided by Manuel "Guajiro" Mirabal, (b. 1933) who went on to release solo records under the Buena Vista presents... title.