Producer Ry Cooder originally intended to record Malian musicians and Cuban locals, but the Africans were unable to obtain visas, so he made an album of Cuban son instead. ∙ The original Buenavista Social Club was an actual place—a ’40s-era members-only club in Havana, exclusively for Afro-Cubans. ∙ In 1970, singer/guitarist Compay Segundo gave up music and returned to rolling cigars, which had been his livelihood in the late ’30s. ∙ The album was recorded in Havana’s historic EGREM studios, which still had much of its pre-revolutionary equipment dating back to the ’40s and ’50s. ∙ The album was recorded in six days, with sessions lasting only eight hours. ∙ Although most of its songs come from prerevolutionary Cuba, the album’s closing track, “La Bayamesa,” dates back to the turn of the 20th century. ∙ The band was the subject of a 1999 Academy Award-nominated documentary, Buena Vista Social Club, directed by Wim Wenders. ∙ In 1998, Buena Vista Social Club won the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Tropical Latin Album.