The Buena Vista Social Club (BVSC) was a gathering for Cuban musicians to get together and

play the music they wished, that took place during the 1940s. The BVSC was a members only
club that was located in Havana Cuba, where individuals could gather to participate in
socializing and performing the music of their choice. Besides performing music the members of
the BVSC would perform new and popular dances. The Social clubs that began to form within
Cuba where determined by racial ethnicity and social status of its members. At the time of the
BVSC, social status and ethnicity was very important. As soon as the new government came
into power, the social clubs that where formed in the early 40s had to be separated. The new
government emphasized in having equality among its people, they did not tolerate the
segregation of social and ethnic classes.
The social clubs that had been formed during the 40s where based on ethnic background and
social status of the members. Since the new government had a change in social norms, they
believed that everyone was equal, that social and ethnic status did not matter. The social clubs
where dissolved and then formed with new members of society making the clubs diverse. The
new clubs that were assigned by the communist government consisted of all social and ethnic
classes within the society.
The popularity of the BVSC was at its peak during the 40s and 50s due to the highly talented
group of musicians that composed the BVSC. The BVSC was very important in the creation of
new music for the Cuban society as well as all Latin America. The era saw the birth of the jazz
influenced mambo, the charanga, and dance forms such as the pachanga and the cha-cha-cha,
as well as the continued development of traditional Afro-Cuban musical styles such as rumba

and son, the latter transformed with the use of additional instruments by Arsenio Rodrguez to
become son montuno. (background) The influence that was created by these talented
musicians was of great importance to Latin music. Even with fifty years of having started the
BVSC it is still recognized today as a club that was very influential to music.
After the revolutionary war in Cuba in 1959 the new president of Cuba Manuel Urrutia Lleo,
transformed Cuba into a communist society. The new government brought social changes and
governmental enforcement to Cuba and its people. Some changes that took place in society
were the closure of all social clubs, within them the BVSC. The new government did not allow
for social gatherings that did not follow Christian norms. These new changes brought the
closure of gambling sites and nightclubs. The governments new effort to have a better society
within the Cuban community brought great distress within the citizens of the Island. Many
individuals where submissive to the new government and were not going to protest against the
new changes that the government had imposed upon the citizens of Cuba. As there was those
individuals that did not protest against the new government there was also those individuals
that did not accept the new government rules. The thought of having eliminated all activities
that where a social tradition for the citizens of Cuba, some individuals did not accept new
regulations and would protest against their new government. Some of the protests against the
government where brought out by disobeying the governments calls for complete elimination
of social activities that did not follow Christian religious mythology.
The BVSC stayed as a group without the permission of the government to continue as a social
club. Musicians that where part of BVSC during its peak years and are still famous till this day

are musicians such as Pedro Milanes and Silvio Rodriguez. These musicians where extremely
popular during the Peak years of BVSC and today they are very well known for being involved
with the club, but more acknowledgement is given to them for their enormous collaboration to
Latin music in general.