Music making you drunk: Buena Vista Social Club

Buena Vista Social Club. Wim Wenders 1999

The original Buena Vista Social Club album was recorded for World Circuit Records over six days at the vintage EGREM studios in Havana. Released in 1997, the album went on to become a worldwide phenomenon, selling over 8 million copies and contributing to the rise in popularity of Cuban, as well as Latin American, music. Since forming in London in the mid-1980s, World Circuit Records has made its reputation by producing some of the finest albums of the past three decades.

The label’s prestigious roster includes Buena Vista Social Club and associated solo artists (including Ibrahim Ferrer, Rubén González, Omara Portuondo and Orlando ‘Cachaíto’ López), Malian blues pioneer Ali Farka Touré, Malian divas and social activists Oumou Sangaré and Fatoumata Diawara, master kora player Toumani Diabaté, the illustrious Orchestra Baobab, musical iconoclast Cheikh Lô, and Fela Kuti’s legendary drummer and co-creator of Afrobeat Tony Allen. With reissues and brand new releases coming soon, World Circuit continues to bring diverse, genre-defying music to a wider audience.

LYRICS (Spanish)

De Alto Cedro voy para Marcané
Luego a Cueto voy para Mayarí.
El cariño que te tengo
Yo no lo puedo negar
Se me sale la babita
Yo no lo puedo evitar.
Cuando Juanica y Chan Chan En el mar cernían arena
Como sacudía el ‘jibe’ A Chan Chan le daba pena.
Limpia el camino de paja
Que yo me quiero sentar
En aquel tronco que veo
Y así no puedo llegar.
De Alto Cedro voy para Marcané
Luego a Cueto voy para Mayarí.

(English)

I’m going from Alto Cedro to Marcané
Then from Cueto, I’m going to Mayarí.
The love I have for you I cannot deny
My mouth is watering I just can’t help myself.
When Juanika and Chan Chan Sifted sand together on the beach
How her bottom shook and Chan Chan was aroused!
Clean the dry sugar cane leaves from the path
So I can get to that trunk I want to sit down.
I’m going from Alto Cedro to Marcané
Then from Cueto, I’m going to Mayarí.

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Anton Foek