biography

Ibrahím Ferrer was born at a social club dance on February 20 1927 in San Luis, a town near Santiago, Cuba. He has never looked back from that musical introduction to the world.

His mother died when he was twelve years old, and Ibrahim was forced to earn his own living singing on the streets of Santiago. At the age of thirteen he formed his first musical group with his cousin. They called themselves the Jovenes del Son (Young Men of Son), and performed at local private parties. Before long they attracted the attention of some of Santiago’s musicians and Ibrahim was called to sing with a succession of bands, most notably the Conjunto Wilson, Conjunto Sorpresa and Marabilla Beltran.

Later he sang with Santiago’s finest orchestra ‘Orquesta Chepín-Chovén,’ a very influential jazz group lead by the composer Electo Rosell (known artistically as ‘Chepín’). Rosell composed one of Ibrahim’s biggest hits El Platanal de Bartolo.

By the 1950s he was established as the singer with Pacho Alonso's group in Santiago, and was able to concentrate on music full time. Alonso's band moved to Havana in 1959, and Ferrer stayed with that group for more than twenty years. By the 1970s, the group had become known as Los Bocucos and pioneered the pilón rhythm, which was reputedly based on the sound of pounding the coffee beans.

With the Bocucos, Ferrer’s work consisted mainly of guarachas, sones and up-tempo numbers, although Ibrahim yearned to sing boleros. He enjoyed some popularity with songs such as Mi Quimbín and El Platanal de Bartolo, but he would have to wait nearly forty years to record a bolero worthy of his considerable talents as a bolero singer. That song, Dos Gardenias by Isolina Carrillo is featured on the Buena Vista Social Club recording.

When a bolero singer of the old school was required for the World Circuit sessions in 1996 co-producer Juan De Marcos González went to fetch him at home. During the sessions he took part in the Afro Cuban All Stars’ Grammy-nominated recording A Todo Cuba le Gusta and is one of the main soneros on the multi-million selling album Buena Vista Social Club, produced by Ry Cooder, and the subsequent documentary of the same name.

Whereas the other stars from the Buena Vista sessions had originally some fame both in and outside of Cuba, Ibrahim Ferrer had never been recognised in his own right. He has since emerged as one of the great discoveries of the sessions. Always regarded as a “musician’s musician,” Ibrahim Ferrer has now been give the chance to display his great talent in both the rural Santiago and urban Havana traditions.

In 1999 Ibrahim Ferrer’s debut album, produced by Ry Cooder, was released worldwide by World Circuit-Nonesuch Records. Since then his own Ibrahim Ferrer has been the leading light of the live Buena Vist Social Club on tours throughout the world.

2003 sees the release of his second album “Buenos Hermanos”.

“I pinch myself all the time,” Ibrahim says. “It is a dream come true. When I was younger I thought I was going to travel the world with my music. The only chance I got was when I came to Europe in 1962. Then there was the missile crisis. I played in Paris and Eastern Europe with Pacho Alonso’s orchestra and then I was stuck in Europe. I had to stay until everything settled down again before I could go home. Then nothing happened for thirty-five years. This has given me the will to live. I’m living the dream of my youth in the body of an old man.”

Today, Ibrahím Ferrer lives in Old Havana where the centerpiece of his living room is an altar to Saint Lazarus, or Bbalú-ayé, one of the African / Catholic saints of Cuba's Santería religion. His shrine is decorated with candles, fairy lights, and fresh flowers every day.