Buena Vista Social Club
You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians
Peter Martin
4.9 • 770 Ratings
🗓️ 6 April 2026
⏱️ 59 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Buena Vista Social Club: The album so good it's life-affirming. And it almost didn't happen.
In 1996, an American musician landed in Cuba to record a music project with Malian musicians. But when they didn't show up, Ry Cooder and his producer, Juan de Marcos González, went looking for replacements.
That's when they found Compay Segundo, Ibrahim Ferrer and Rubén González, who had seen their musical prime decades earlier in the 40s and 50s. Compay was nearing his 90s, and some believed he had died, until he showed up on Buena Vista Social Club. Rubén hadn't played in years, and didn't even own a piano.
But together with a cast of all-star Cuban musicians, they created what would become the best-selling world music album of all time.
How did Buena Vista Social Club become a global phenomenon?
In this episode of You'll Hear It, Peter Martin and Adam Maness listen to the record track-by-track to understand what makes this album so magnetic, and how it holds up 30 years later. Plus - a FIRST in You'll Hear It history.
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About You'll Hear It:
In this popular music series, Adam and Peter break down the greatest albums of all time. Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Joni Mitchell, D'Angelo: Jazz is the foundation of the most GENIUS music in recent history. These seasoned jazz pianists bring their deep musical knowledge to every joyful episode to help you hear the hidden qualities that make music AMAZING. You'll never hear music the same way again.
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00:00 - Buena Vista Social Club
00:55 - Why This Episode is NEXT LEVEL
06:59 - "Chan Chan"
10:24 - The Story of Buena Vista Social Club
14:34 - "De Camino a la Vereda"
16:27 - "El Cuarto de Tula"
20:09 - "Pueblo Nuevo (Danzón)"
24:26 - "Dos Gardenias"
26:12 - "Y Tú Qué Has Hecho?"
28:15 - "Veinte Años"
29:49 - Omara's On Stage Shout Out to Peter
31:09 - "El Carretero"
32:33 - "Candela"
34:38 - "Amor de Loca Juventud"
35:55 - "Orgullecida"
37:03 - "Murmullo"
39:48 - "Buena Vista Social Club (Title Track)"
44:38 - "La Bayamesa"
46:12 - Peter's BIG Reveal
47:40 - The BEST Moments on BVSC
49:33 - Categories: Bespoke Playlists, Quibble Bits and Snobometer
51:52 - What to Listen to Next
54:19 - Open Studio Plays "Chan Chan"
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | There was a time when Kampai Segundo was presumed dead. |
| 0:04.3 | Ibrahim Ferrer was shining shoes. |
| 0:06.5 | Ruben Gonzalez hadn't played for years and didn't even own piano. |
| 0:10.8 | They were men that time forgot, voices from a bygone era. |
| 0:14.0 | They would have one of the greatest comebacks in music history, and it was a complete accent. |
| 0:18.7 | Kompai, Ibrahim, and Rubin, together with a diva, a cowboy, and the nephew of a legendary bassist |
| 0:24.9 | in a studio for six days. |
| 0:27.7 | The album they would make together would go on to sell 8 million copies, win a Grammy |
| 0:32.5 | and become the subject of an Oscar-nominated documentary. |
| 0:36.5 | How did this accidental album of music nearly |
| 0:39.8 | lost to time become a global phenomenon?, oh. Your jazz lesson needs Peter. Yes, sir. Oh, my God. Big day, big day. It's always big day, but really, really big day. How do you say big day in Spanish? Well, no, you don't even know how big of a day it actually is. I can see there's a little glimmer in your eyes. I am excited. But I didn't even tell you in our extensive pregame ritual of getting to know each other's feelings about the record and how we wanted to do this. I didn't even mention this. |
| 1:28.8 | And I'm going to keep it a little bit of a secret so we get to the end. But we have a, yeah, well, it's now they know though. But we have a segment, we have categories at the end, we have a segment called Desert Island Tracks. And I'm going to do something today that I've never done before. Don't ruin the show. |
| 1:43.6 | Are you going to ruin our show? |
| 1:44.8 | No, no, I'm going next level. |
| 1:46.0 | I'm leveling up. |
| 1:46.9 | He's going to ruin the show. |
| 1:47.8 | Stick around. I'm going to do something today that I've never done before. Don't ruin the show. Are you going to ruin our show? |
| 1:44.8 | No, no. |
| 1:45.1 | I'm going next level. |
| 1:46.0 | I'm leveling up. |
| 1:46.9 | He's going to ruin the show. |
| 1:47.7 | Stick around. |
... |
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