The Buena Vista Social Club owes its success to the visa problems of Malian musicians. Now, they’ve all come together to make some remarkable music

BACK in 1996, World Circuit label boss Nick Gold invited a pair of Malian musicians, Djelimady Tounkara and Bassekou Kouyate, to travel to Havana to record an album with some Cuban singers and musicians.

Visa problems meant that the Malians didn’t make the trip so Gold asked guitarist Eliades Ochoa to recruit some local musicians to ensure that the studio time he’d booked didn’t go to waste.

What came out of these sessions in the Egrem Studio in downtown Havana was the best-selling Buena Vista Social Clubalbum. That release and Wim Wenders' evocative documentary ensured worldwide fame for the old Cuban hands. The original idea for the project was shelved as all involved strived to deal with the Buena Vistaphenomenon as it charmed the world.

Some 13 years later, though, the Cubans and Malians finally make it into a recording studio together. Ochoa and his band came from Havana, while the original Malian pair were joined by kora maestro Toumani Diabate and singer Kasse Mady Diabate. Four days in Madrid in December 2009 produced the Afrocubismalbum, a joyful coming together of two traditions.

Both sides were a little unsure about what to expect when they met up. "I knew that my country and Mali were connected culturally, but I didn't know the music," Diabate says. "Cuban music comes from Africa originally so when we met, I found a way to introduce myself to Cuban music in a way which made sense. Afrocubism is very definitely half and half, you can't say it is African or Cuban, it's a new music for me, a new baby for the world." For the Cubans, there was also a learning curve. "Before the original Buena Vista Socialrecording, I didn't know much about music from Mali," says Eliades Ochoa, via a translator. "Before we worked on Afrocubism, I listened to a lot of African music, not just Malian music, as I knew that one day we could work together, and this helped me to familiarise myself with African music." According to Diabate, the original spark for Afrocubismcame from a jam session with Ochoa in a Dutch hotel lobby. "Eliades and I share a manager and we were touring at the same time in Holland and we met in the lobby of a hotel. I had my kora and Eliades had his guitar and we jammed together for hours. We just sat in the lobby and played.

"After I did In the Heart of the Moonwith Ali Farka Toure, I was looking for a new collaborator with a different background to record with. When I jammed with Eliades, I knew he was the right man. I knew I could make a record with him."

Ochoa also enjoyed that chance encounter. “I feel a strong connection with him, but we had to learn how to play together coming from different cultures with different musical styles.” Diabate took the idea for a collaboration to his manager, who went to Nick Gold at World Circuit and suddenly, the original project was back on track.

“I was not one of the musicians who was originally due to travel to Cuba, but I am the man who brought back this project,” Diabate says. It’s clear that the Malian superstar is not backward at coming forward on occasions such as this.

“It was a fantastic experience for the Cubans,” adds Ochoa, “but it was also a school for us all, learning the different forms of playing that we were all used to and how to communicate with each other.” Aside from language difficulties – “We don’t speak Spanish and the Cubans don’t speak French or English so we can’t talk together,” Diabate notes – there were also significant differences in technique.

“I think that we brought something which was missing in Cuban music,” reckons Diabate. “Our music is more varied and about improvisation, while Cuban music is a lot more rigid. Of course, the Cuban musicians do improvise, but it’s within a certain structure. Afrocubism is special because it combines those two ways of working. It can be done.”

Afrocubism play the Big Top, Galway, next Monday and National Concert Hall, Dublin, next Tuesday