Buena Vista Social Club | 2hrs. One intermission. | Atlantic Theater Company | 336 West 20th Street | 646-452-2220

Thirty-odd years ago you’d couldn’t escape the folk-world sonic vibe in New York’s bookstores and cafés, its musty thrift stores and East Village hipster dives. There was the hoarse yowling of the Gypsy Kings, bluegrass crooning from the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, the Gregorian-chant electronica of Enigma . . . and of course, the Buena Vista Social Club. Everyone knew about this band which “rediscovered” traditional Cuban dance music. I never actually saw the movie or bought the CD, but it was in the air. Now, thanks to the Atlantic Theater Company, I feel better acquainted.

True, my lack of Spanish puts me at a disadvantage when savoring the 15 piquant songs threaded through Buena Vista Social Club. At least, I think it does? Would it have helped to know that Faustino Oramas’s “Candela” (“Fire”) starts out being about a rat, a cat, and a kettle drum, and gets odder from there? In........

© Observer