VIA PRESS RELEASE | World Circuit Records will release Buena Vista Social Club (30th Anniversary Edition) on 4th September. Produced by Ry Cooder and Executive Produced by Nick Gold, the classic multi-million-selling Grammy-winning album will be reissued on “pearl sunrise” colour double-LP, reflecting pearl’s long-standing association with 30-year anniversaries. Buena Vista Social Club 30th Anniversary Edition is the third in a series of re-releases celebrating the prestigious label’s 40th Anniversary and is available now for pre-order.
The history, authenticity and mystique of Buena Vista Social Club burns as brightly today as ever for fans both new and old. On 26 March 1996, the trio of Cuban bandleader Juan de Marcos González, American producer and guitarist Ry Cooder, and British producer and label owner Nick Gold assembled an impromptu group of Cuban musicians at Centro Havana’s historic 1950’s EGREM/Areito studios. The majority of those gathered were celebrated veterans of the golden age of the Cuban music scene of the 1940s and ’50s.
None of them had any idea that the recordings they were about to produce would change the lives of many people, themselves included, and would forever change the standing of Cuban music in the world. Buena Vista Social Club was the name given to both this extraordinary group of musicians and the album, recorded in just seven days.
The studio, owned by Cuba’s national label EGREM, was originally installed in the 1940s and is celebrated as a great jewel in recording history. The large wood-panelled studio enabled recording to take place with the full ensemble playing “live,” which puts the listener right in the room amongst the musicians. There is no doubt that this played a major part in the magical sound of the final recordings.
It was clear from the atmosphere of the recording sessions that something very special was taking place, but no one could have predicted that Buena Vista Social Club would become a worldwide phenomenon—awarded a Grammy in 1997 and, at over 8 million copies, outselling any other record in the same genre. The impact of those sessions is still felt 30 years later, and the vibrance and seductive allure of Cuba’s rich history and culture shines as brightly as ever in these definitive recordings.
The acclaim of the original album elevated the artists (including Ibrahim Ferrer, Eliades Ochoa, Compay Segundo, Rubén González & Omara Portuondo) to superstar status, inspired an award-winning film by Wim Wenders, a Tony Award-Winning Broadway Musical and contributed to popularising Cuba’s rich musical heritage. The timeless quality of the music and the sheer verve of the veteran performers have ensured that Buena Vista Social Club will go down as one of the landmark recordings of the 20th century.
March 2025 saw the official opening of the Buena Vista Social Club Broadway stage show. Inspired by true events, the Broadway musical brings the original album to thrilling life—weaving fiction with history to reimagine the story of the legends behind the music. Winner of 5 Tony Awards, Buena Vista Social Club is making history on Broadway as the first musical featuring its entire song score sung completely in Spanish, with the shows story and scenes performed in English.
In February 2026 the show’s Original Broadway Cast Recording, released by World Circuit Records, produced by GRAMMY ® Award winners Dean Sharenow and David Yazbek, co-produced by Marco Paguia and Orin Wolf, and Executive Produced by Allan Williams won the GRAMMY ® for Best Musical Theatre Album. The production continues to run at the Schoenfeld Theatre (236 West 45th Street) in New York and will tour the US in late 2026.
The following albums will be released throughout 2026 to mark World Circuit Records’ 40th Anniversary:
Ali Farka Touré, Savane (20th Anniversary Edition), out now
Afro-Cuban All Stars, A Toda Cuba Le Gusta (30th Anniversary Edition), out 26th June
Buena Vista Social Club, Buena Vista Social Club (30th Anniversary Edition), out 4th September
Oumou Sangaré, Moussolou, coming soon
Tony Allen and Hugh Masekela, Rejoice, coming soon
Ibrahim Ferrer, Buena Vista Social Club Present Ibrahim Ferrer, coming soon
The label is best known for the sensational Buena Vista Social Club album which provided a launchpad for solo albums from the likes of Ibrahim Ferrer, Omara Portuondo, Rubén González, Guajiro Mirabal, as well as innovative albums by Cachaíto López and Angá Díaz, both of which helped redefine Cuban music for the 21st century.
World Circuit is also home to several iconic African albums. Legendary Malian desert blues pioneer Ali Farka Touré’s classic Grammy-winning Talking Timbuktu, recorded with Ry Cooder, brought the label early international acclaim.
The label launched international careers for Malian superstar Oumou Sangaré, the revered kora player Toumani Diabaté, the legendary Senegalese dance band Orchestra Baobab, Malian singer-songwriter Fatoumata Diawara, and, more recently, has released critically acclaimed albums from Tony Allen & Hugh Masekela, Cheikh Lô, Africa Express and Jonny Greenwood, and most recently the Grammy-winning Original Cast Recording for new Tony Award-winning Broadway Musical Buena Vista Social Club.
The force behind these landmark records has been the internationally acclaimed, multiple Grammy-winning producer and World Circuit co-founder, Nick Gold. In 2006, The New York Times described Gold as a “musical matchmaker… (who), in the age of corporate music conglomerates, has built a small empire on personal taste, tight quality control, and canny marketing.”
