Prior to 1996 Ibrahím Ferrer was not considered to be an especially fortunate man. „Before it was all the same to me if I lived or died, now I want to live”, he said in one of his first interviews after the phenomenal success of Buena Vista Social Club. The subsequent movie by Wim Wenders brought him to all the most important concert halls of the world: the Albert Hall, Carnegie Hall etc.
To call him now, as some still do, the Nat King Cole of Cuba, is unnecessary because it is enough to be Ibrahim Ferrer: a tender man in a bolero and a rogue in a son or guaracha, able to both move people and make them happy, crossing all barriers of language, custom and culture. Ibrahim Ferrer was born in very humble circumstances in 1927 in San Luis, close to Santiago de Cuba. From an early age he sang in small groups that frequented parties and the bars of Santiago. He thought that fortune had smiled upon him when he was accepted to sing with Chepin Chovén, the best orchestra in the city. In the late Fifties he traveled to Havana with Pacho Alonso and Los Bocucos and in 1967, when Alonso decided to form another group, Ibrahim became the main singer in Los Bocucos.
He worked the carnivals singing popular songs like Mañana Me Voy Pa’Sibanicú, Nuestra Ruca, Compositor Confundido, Apúntate Una Mi Social and especially, De Camino A La Vereda and Ay, Candela. He wrote new versions of the last two which he called his faithful „war horses”. This disk holds these and other original recordings taken directly from the master tapes he recorded. As an extra attraction, we have also included Una Fuerza Inmensa - the only bolero that Ibrahim recorded solo before 1996 - and Santa Cecilia, an old song from the beginnings of the 20th century, sung in a duet with Carlos Querol.
With the appearance of new groups and bands, and with them more „contemporary” leanings, by the Eighties Ibrahim Ferrer seemed to be a thing of the past. Among the last recordings he made with Los Bocucos was Todavía Me Queda Voz (I Still Have a Voice Left), a kind of declaration by veteran popular singers who were hardly being booked any more. Disappointed, he felt the end had arrived. He had by then sung for more than half a century.
But then everything changed.
When in 2000 he won an important prize in the United States, Ibrahim accepted the award with implacable philosophy: „I am living the dream I had as a young man, although my body is old”. When asked how he would define his way of singing, he said that he has a natural voice with a tenor that identifies it with the flavor of the rum of Eastern Cuba: melodiously aged by a long tradition of cheerful songs that make you dance and forget the pains of love.
That is not a small thing.
Sigfredo Ariel [cover note]
Ibrahím Ferrer - Ay, Candela
℗ © 2005 Escondida Music [ESC 65132]
Tracklist:
01. Apúntate Una Mi Social | 3:24
02. Mañana Me Voy Pa' Sibanicu | 3:25
03. De Caminoa la Vereda | 2:46
04. Ay, Candela | 3:26
05. La Chica del Granizado | 3:51
06. Nuestra Ruca | 2:58
07. Estoy Seco y Me Quiero Mojar | 4:01
08. Compositor Confundido | 4:32
09. Ahora No Puedo | 3:45
10. Esto Se Baila y Se Toca | 4:11
11. Mi Tonada Montuna | 5:13
12. Santa Cecilia | 3:26
13. Una Fuerza Inmensa | 3:01
14. Todavía Me Queda Voz | 5:23
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