More than eight million copies sold is an exceptional figure for any music album. However, for a CD labeled with the World Music genre, that number means unprecedented success. The album, titled Buena Vista Social Club, forever changed the world's attitude towards Cuban music. However, Buena Vista has been criticized for being a commercial product and for causing negative effects on Cuban society. Let's discover the story behind this Cuban phenomenon and, more importantly, explore the music contained in this brilliant CD. Released in 1997, Buena Vista Social Club immediately became an international success and won a Grammy Award in 1998. Throughout the world, especially in the United States, where the album was received with great enthusiasm, Ry Cooder was considered the hero of Cuban music (Hernandez 65). Being the album's producer, Cooder was assumed to have discovered a "lost treasure" in Cuban culture. However, Tanya Kateri Hernandez, in an article on the Buena Vista Social Club, revealed that Juan de Marcos Gonzalez, and not Cooder, was the person “who conceived and facilitated the collaboration.” (Hernandez 62). Also in this article, it is noted that Juan de Marcos Gonzalez “implicitly consented to Cooder's propagation of the colonial myth in order to ensure the commercial success of the collaboration.” (Hernandez 64). Other musicians of the Buena Vista Social Club ensemble followed Gonzalez's lead, as there was almost no other choice for them. As a result, Buena Vista is basically a commercial product aimed at foreign audiences. The album contains fourteen songs of different genres, most of which originated from Afro-Cubans, including son, darzón, bolero and the so-called Latin Jazz. However, the CD should not be considered the representative... half of the paper... surrounding the album, it was successful in its mission: to introduce Cuban music. Let's summarize it with a quote from Juan de Marcos Gonzales: “The important thing is that Cuban music has regained its place in the world.” (Corbett 47) Works Cited Buena Vista Social Club, Cooder. Buena Vista Social Club. Nothing like that. 1997. CD. Corbett, Ben. This is Cuba: an outlaw culture survives. Westview Press, 2002. Print.Hernandez, Tanya Katerí, “The Buena Vista Social Club: The Racial Politics of Nostalgia.” Latin/A popular culture. Ed. Michelle Habell-Pallán, Mary Romero. New York: New York University Press, 2002. 61-72. Print.McMullen, Steve. “Buena Vista Social Club Review” on AllMusic.com. Network. November 27, 2011.Walker, Tim. “The big question: How did the Buena Vista Social Club become such a global phenomenon?” The Independent. February 12, 2009. Web. November 20 2011.