At Carnegie Hall

It seems very strange that World Circuit/Nonesuch would wait ten long years to issue this historic document of the grand, wildly celebrated Buena Vista Social Club concert at Carnegie Hall. This is the very show so wonderfully and artfully detailed by filmmaker Wim Wenders in his documentary on the project that reunited these then-obscure Cuban music legends for an album and a tour and catapulted them to worldwide fame. Perhaps it was worth the wait; perhaps this music should have been in our midst all along. Of the four older legends, those who had made music together in Cuba before Castro, only Omara Portuondo remains on the Earth, and she is still quite active. The other three, vocalist Ibrahim Ferrer, pianist Rubén González, and guitarist and vocalist Compay Segundo, have passed away -- Segundo lived to be 96! The youngster of the group, guitarist Eliades Ochoa, continues to record and tour....by Thom Jurek\n\n---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\nArtwork – Iwant Design\nBongos, Cowbell, Guiro – Roberto García\nCongas – Angel 'Terry' Domech*\nCover – Iwant Design, Jon Smith (13)\nDouble Bass – Orlando 'Cachaíto' López*, Salvador Repilado*\nDrums, Percussion – Joachim Cooder\nEngineer [Assistant Mix] – Joshua Smith\nExecutive-Producer – Nick Gold\nGuitar – Benito Suárez Magana*\nGuitar, Producer – Ry Cooder\nGuitar, Vocals – Compay Segundo, Eliades Ochoa\nLaúd [Laoud] – Barbarito Torres\nLeader, Backing Vocals, Guiro – Juan De Marcos González\nMaracas, Backing Vocals – Alberto 'Virgilio' Valdés*\nMastered By – Bernie Grundman\nMixed By – Martin Pradler\nPhotography By – Donata Wenders, Ebet Roberts, Geraint Lewis, Jon Smith (13), Susan Titelman\nPiano – Rubén González\nRecorded By – Jerry Boys, John Bates, John Harris, Randy Ezratty\nSleeve Notes – Nigel Williamson\nTimbales – Amadito Valdés\nTrombone, Leader [For Rubén Gonzaléz] – Jesús 'Agauje' Ramos*\nTrumpet – Manuel 'Guajiro' Mirabal, Octavio Calderón\nVocals – Hugo Garzón, Ibrahim Ferrer, Manuel 'Puntillita' Licea*, Omara Portuondo, Pío Leyva