Featured in Michael Fremer's Heavy Rotation in the April 2009 Issue of Stereophile 

Buena Vista Social Club, the Grammy Award-winning 1997 World Circuit /Nonesuch Records album produced by Ry Cooder, is the biggest-selling world music album ever, with more than eight million records sold to date. The Cuban musicians from the album played a sold-out, one-night-only concert at New York’s Carnegie Hall on July 1, 1998. The footage of that show became the climax of the acclaimed 1999 Wim Wenders documentary about the musicians and their compelling story, also called Buena Vista Social Club.

Ten years later, that evening’s historic performance is released by World Circuit /Nonesuch Records — meticulously mixed and mastered by Cooder and World Circuit label head Nick Gold (who executive produced the 1997 album). It features performances by the original Buena Vista Social Club musicians including Ibrahim Ferrer, Compay Segundo, Ruben González, Eliades Ochoa, Omara Portuondo, Cachaíto López, and Guajiro Mirabal. Though all of these musicians subsequently went on to resurrect great solo careers, the intervening years have brought the loss of Ferrer, Segundo and González. Buena Vista Social Club at Carnegie Hall is only the second release for the original members, whose legendary studio album became a phenomenon throughout the world.

“The concert was more than a musical occasion. Musicians from Cuba in their 70’s, 80’s and 90’s, some emerging from retirement, were making their United States debuts at no less than Carnegie Hall. With the bittersweet delicacy of a classic bolero, the Buena Vista Social Club simultaneously celebrated the vitality and virtuosity of its musicians and mourned the era they embody.” - The New York Times

Musicians:

Octavio Calderón, trumpet
Joachim Cooder, drums, percussion
Ry Cooder, guitars
Angel “Terry” Domech, congas
Ibrahim Ferrer, vocals
Roberto García, bongos, cowbell, güiro 
Hugo Garzón, vocals
Juan de Marcos González, bandleader, coro, güiro, 
Rubén González, piano
Pío Leyva, vocals
Manuel “Puntillita” Licea, vocals
Orlando “Cachaíto” López, bass
Manuel “Guajiro” Mirabal, trumpet
Eliades Ochoa, guitar, vocals
Omara Portuondo, vocals
Jesús “Aguaje” Ramos, bandleader for Rubén González, trombone
Salvador Repilado, bass
Compay Segundo, guitar, vocals
Benito Suárez Magana, guitar
Barbarito Torres, laoud
Alberto “Virgilio” Valdés, maracas, coro
Amadito Valdés, timbales

Selections:
1. Chan Chan
2. De Camino a la Vereda
3. El Cuarto de Tula
4. La Enganadora
5. Buena Vista Social Club
6. Dos Gardenias
7. Quizas, Quizas
8. Veinte Anos
9. Orgullecida
10. Y Tu Que Has Hecho?
11. Siboney
12. Mandinga
13. Almendra
14. El Carretero
15. Candela
16. Silencio