"New" Buena Vista Social Club Album

I'm not sure why it took Nonesuch 10 years to get around to releasing a live album of the Buena Vista Social Club's 1998 Carnegie Hall show (it's the show that was filmed for Wim Wender's must-see 1999 documentary), but I'm grateful they did.

Wender's film provides ample evidence that the band absolutely tore down the house at this show. The live version of "Candela" in particular is among the most, er, incendiary music I've ever heard. The only sour note is the knowledge that vocalist Ibrahim Ferrer, pianist Rubén González and guitarist/vocalist Compay Segundo have all passed on since this historic night of music making.

Best of all the album is being released on double LP with a bonus CD set included. Other recent Nonesuch LPs I've purchased have been outstanding pressings, among the best I've heard, so I'm really looking forward to hearing this.

Los Zafiros - Y Sabes Bien

Los Zafiros were an extremely popular Cuban vocal group for a brief time during the 1960s. The group's sound is a unique fusion of popular American influences (most obviously doo-wop) and styles more commonly associated with Latin America (son, mambo, rumba, samba). The results sound like nothing else. Their heartbreaking story is the subject of the documentary Los Zafiros: Music From the Edge of Time, a film that can really only hint at the larger political and social forces behind the group's rise and fall.

"Y Sabes Bien" is a fantastic song. Honestly, I'm not a big of a fan of doo-wop, but I find Los Zafiros' vocal harmonies utterly captivating, and the underlying rhythms make the music compelling for me in a way that doo-wop has never been. That and Manuel Galbán is an absolute genius on the fretboard. Oh yeah, and this video is amazing.



Los Zafiros first came on my radar after I picked up Ry Cooder and Manuel Galbán's fantastic 2003 collaboration Mambo Sinuendo. Many of Los Zafiros' biggest hits are collected on the 1999 Nonesuch compilation, Bossa Cubana. I highly recommend both albums.