Buena Vista Social Club Trivia Questions

Singers like Ibrahim Ferrer and Compay Segundo were retired or working odd jobs. The album turned them into international stars in their 70s and 80s.

It won that Grammy in 1998 and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2012. Its global success also sparked a revival of Cuban music worldwide.

Wim Wenders filmed the musicians in Havana and during their 1998 Amsterdam concert. The documentary was nominated for an Academy Award in 2000.

The name was made up by producer Ry Cooder and bandleader Juan de Marcos González. There was no real 'Buena Vista Social Club' club in Havana; they invented it for the project.

Producer Ry Cooder booked just 6 days in Havana's EGREM studio in March 1996. The sessions were so spontaneous and quick that the entire album was finished in under a week.

They actually toured the U.S. successfully. The U.S. embargo did complicate travel, but they performed at venues like Carnegie Hall in 1998 without a ban.

Compay Segundo famously claimed to have invented the son cubano, though the style actually emerged in the late 19th century, well before his birth in 1907.

Ry Cooder intended a collaboration between Malian and Cuban musicians, but when the Malians were denied visas, he recorded with veteran Cuban son musicians instead, creating the Buena Vista Social Club.