Buena Vista Social Club is an album made by Juan de Marcos Gonz??lez and American guitarist Ry Cooder with traditional Cuban musicians. The album was produced by Cooder who travelled to Cuba to record sessions with the musicians, many of whom were previously largely unknown outside Cuba. The musicians and the songs were later also featured in a documentary film of the same name. The music featured on the album was inspired by the Buena Vista Social Club, a membership club that was at its height during the 1940s. Many of the musicians performing on the record were either former performers at the club or were prominent Cuban musicians during the era of the club's existence. Other younger musicians on the record trace their musical roots back to pre-revolutionary Cuban music. Buena Vista Social Club started a craze in the Western World for Latin American music, particularly Cuban music