For the first time in more than five decades, a Cuba-based band will perform at the White House.
According to a White House official, the world-renowned Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club will perform at a White House ceremony on Thursday, October 15 at a reception celebrating the end of Hispanic Heritage Month as well as the 25th anniversary of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics.
The Buena Vista Social Club, a musical and cultural center from the 1940s to the 1960s that encouraged Afro-Cuban musical styles, became known the world over nearly five decades after the club was closed after a 1990s recording by Cuban and American musicians put it on the international map. The recording became an international success as the biggest-selling Cuban album in history.
As part of the original recording, the musicians have been spreading Cuban music for over a decade as The Buena Vista Social Club.
