Co-founded by musical director Juan de marco González in 1996, the buena Vista social club project came together as a happy accident. originally intended as a cross-cultural collaboration between african and cuban artists, the project hit a snag when the mali-based musicians failed to get their travel visas. instead, it evolved into a cuban music supergroup. Recorded in six days, the buena Vista social club album became one of world music’s biggest hits, sell-ing more than 10 million copies, winning a Grammy award, and spawning numerous solo projects for the various artists involved. Today, the bVsc sound lives on in González’s afro-cuban all stars, who are about to embark upon their first full u.s. tour in seven years. We recently spoke to González about the evolution of cuban music, how the buena Vista project came about, and the obama administration’s recent relaxation of sanctions against cuba.

Cuban music is unique, even among the nations of the Afro-Caribbean Diaspora. What gives the island such a distinctive musical identity? cuba is one of the only countries where the slaves were able to freely practice their culture without major restrictions, so these cultures mixed with the european to become something different. in musical terms, what is distinctive about cuban music is that the accent of the rhythm is either on the fourth beat or the second half of the fourth beat of the bar– this is the way women walk– which makes it especially danceable and attractive.

How did your father’s work influence your music? my father was one of the great singers of the legendary arsenio Rodriguez’s band. He abandoned professional music during the early ‘50s in order to get a proper salary and marry my mum. but what comes in the blood is unavoidable, so as a kid i used to go with him to the "rumbas" that took place at the historic places in downtown Havana. We also had parties at home every september (dedicated to Virgen de Regla, the patroness of Havana city) that were attended by many of my father’s musician friends, including Pio leiva, Puntillita, ibrahim ferrer, etc. His influence was decisive in my becoming a musician.

For those who aren’t familiar with the different styles of Cuban music, how would you explain the differences between bolero, salsa, son montuno, timba, guajira, danzón, rumba and abakua? bolero is the afro-cuban ballad, with a romantic rhythm and love lyrics. salsa is a commercial term created by capitalists like Jerry masucci to sell the latin us immigrants the same cuban music they’ve heard for decades in a new package. Timba is con-temporary cuban music that mixes afro-cuban jazz, funk and hip-hop with traditional genres such as son montuno. it’s a consequence of the economic crisis in cuba after the crash of the eastern communist countries, with lyrics that are aggressive and some-times pejorative for women. danzon is the most european genre of cuban music, initially played with a lineup composed of a couple of violins, wooden flute, piano, timpani and guiro. Rumba is not a genre, but the popular party where some genres with a direct african spirit are played. abakua is a religious society, only for men, which came from a similar so-ciety of the niger River basin. The history of abakua is very interesting. abakua music is written in 6/8 or 12/8, and it’s very syncopated.
 
Let’s talk about Buena Vista Social Club. Where did the idea come from? i wanted to pay tribute to my father, and to the golden period of big band cuban music. nick Gold, my friend and head of World circuit Records, wanted to produce an album in the more relaxed son montuno style of the late ‘20s. i prepared music based on a repertoire we agreed upon, basically classics. We entered eGRem studios in Havana and recorded the big band album ("a Toda cuba le Gusta" by the afro-cuban all stars), the album later called "buena Vista social club" and a solo album for Ruben Gonzalez. later, we created a band to launch the release of the three albums, and we called it the afro-cuban all stars. We were all under the same banner until 2001, when, due to the incredible amount of contracts and requests, we decided to make a split. Then i created a band for ibrahim, an-other for Ruben, and one more for omara Portuon-do. if you go to my youTube channel (www.youtube. com/user/dmahora?feature=mhum) you can watch documentaries about the genesis. The Wim Wenders film is absolutely inaccurate.
 
That group was obviously the biggest thing to hap-pen to Cuban music in years. Were you surprised by the response on an international level? yes and no. cuban music disappeared off the market because of political reasons after 1961, but kept developing in our country. i knew that as soon as we got the chance to have open doors in the main markets, we’d impact positively in those markets. but neither nick nor i thought we’d sell 12 million copies of the music we’ve been performing in the island for almost 100 years. it turned into a pop culture phe-nomenon, and in this sense we were very surprised.

What are you most looking forward to on your forthcoming U.S. tour? i want to have fun performing our music and make the people happy during a journey through cuban music. We are all leaving difficult eco-nomic times. if you leave a concert feeling happier than before, you are better prepared to confront the problems life brings. our goal is to make the audience have fun and enjoy the art. i’m also very happy that, for the first time in my life, i’m going to visit Hawaii, your only state i’ve never been in. my son, who works for the us navy, went and came back very impressed!