In 1995, Nick Gold (head of World Circuit Records) and Juan de Marcos González (director and tres player of Sierra Maestra) decided to record a series of descarga sessions featuring established Cuban musicians together with African virtuosos Toumani Diabate (kora player) and Djelimady Tounkara (guitarist). By early 1996, the Cuban musicians had been already selected and the African musicians were about to travel to Cuba, but due to difficulties in obtaining visas they could not make it. Gold then invited Ry Cooder and his son Joachim to participate in the sessions; Ry would play guitar and Joachim African percussion. The recording sessions took place in March 1996 in Havana's EGREM studios and yielded two albums released in 1997: "A toda Cuba le gusta", credited to the Afro-Cuban All Stars, and "Buena Vista Social Club". Both albums, especially the latter, included extended descargas featuring Juan de Marcos on tres, Rubén González (who had taken part in Estrellas de Areíto) on piano, Orlando "Cachaíto" López (Cachao's nephew) on bass and Amadito Valdés on timbales. Buena Vista Social Club went on to become an international sensation, winning the 1998 Grammy for Best Tropical Latin Album and spawning a documentary by Wim Wenders which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 1999. The album directly combined classic Cuban trova and filin with intense descarga jamming. The presence of "laúd" player Barbarito Torres, as well as Joachim Cooder's udu and dumbek, introduced seldom seen instruments into the genre.