Buena Vista Social Club is best known for their eponymous release in 1997, which brought the Son Cubano genre into worldwide attention. Their sound spans across multiple Cuban genres, ranging from Rumba to Guajira, making their material quite accurate in its representation of Cuban music.
November 5, 2013

Buena Vista Social Club is best known for their eponymous release in 1997, which brought the Son Cubano genre into worldwide attention. Their sound spans across multiple Cuban genres, ranging from Rumba to Guajira, making their material quite accurate in its representation of Cuban music. This song, "Chan Chan" tells the story of a man (Chan Chan) and a woman (Juanica) who are building a house together, but Chan Chan's mind isn't so much on building the house as much as it is on Juanica. The lyrical content is based on a Cuban farmer's tale that was told to the songwriter, Compay Segundo, in his childhood. Paired with music that he claims came to him in a dream, "Chan Chan" became a landmark release not only for Cuban music, but for all styles of Latin music.

Got any favorite Latin songs or genres?

Can you help us out?

For nearly 20 years we have been exposing Washington lies and untangling media deceit, but now Facebook is drowning us in an ocean of right wing lies. Please give a one-time or recurring donation, or buy a year's subscription for an ad-free experience. Thank you.

Discussion

We welcome relevant, respectful comments. Any comments that are sexist or in any other way deemed hateful by our staff will be deleted and constitute grounds for a ban from posting on the site. Please refer to our Terms of Service for information on our posting policy.
Mastodon