Buena Vista Social Club

As Cuban revolutions go, it was an entirely peaceable uprising - but its impact could not have been more profound.

On the release of the Buena Vista Social Club album in 1997, few outside the specialist world music audience initially took much notice of the record's elegantly sculpted tunes and warm, acoustic rhythms. Then something extraordinary occurred. The album was spectacularly reviewed by a few discerning critics, but although their words of praise did Buena Vista's cause no harm, they cannot explain what subsequently happened. That its impact had made waves far beyond the specialist world music audience was soon self-evident. Buena Vista went on to win a Grammy and its crossover success persuaded the acclaimed director Wim Wenders to make an award-winning feature film about the phenomenon. The veteran pianist Ruben Gonzalez, who didn't own a piano at the time had been persuaded out of retirement by Juan de Marcos. Not that it took much coaxing, despite his years of inactivity, his playing was on fire and so eager was he to get to the piano that every morning when the janitor turned up to unlock the studio doors, he was already waiting outside. The singer Ibrahim Ferrer, who was scraping a living shining shoes and selling lottery tickets, was also rescued from obscurity - and proceeded to sing his heart out. Eliades Ochoa the great guitarist and singer provided the rural roots from Santiago. Omara Portuondo was recruited as the company's leading lady and the rich, resonant voice of the 89 year-old Compay Segundo provided a link with Cuba's deepest musical past. "He knew the best songs and how to do them because he'd been doing it since World War One," as Ry Cooder noted. "The record that put Cuban 'son' on the map and relaunched the careers of a generation