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There's a
fairytale quality to the story of Ibrahim Ferrer's
late-flowering career that is almost corny. Of all
the colourful characters propelled into the
spotlight by the astonishing Buena Vista Social
Club phenomenon, he's probably held in the
greatest affection by his fans. And the recent
loss or final retirement of several of his
contemporaries has only underlined how cherished
he is.
Ferrer was born in 1927 near Cuba's far-eastern
city of Santiago. He first cut his teeth there
with a band called Jóvenes del Son after an
impoverished youth spent selling sweets and
popcorn on the street, having become an orphan at
12. By 1955 he was singing with the city's top
group, Orquesta Chepín-Chóven, and had his first
hit, "El Platanal de Bartolo". Unfortunately the
tune was released without his name on it, and bad
luck seemed to dog much of his career as a singer.
Even after moving to Havana, he found himself
continually sidelined, forced to sing upbeat
material that he didn't feel suited him, or simply
passed over in favour of other singers. Though at
one stage he even sang with the great Beny Moré,
Ferrer never quite gained the recognition he so
richly deserved, and by 1991 found himself in
disillusioned retirement. "I was always left in
the shadows. I felt loved by the audience, but not
by my colleagues", he recalls.
So naturally, producer and musician Juan de Marcos
Gonzáles had a tough job persuading him to go back
into a studio when he came to call one fateful day
in 1996. Fortunately he succeeded and Ferrer's
resulting performance on the Buena Vista Social
Club's eponymous and only CD propelled him to
levels of fame and fortune he had only ever dreamt
of. His subsequent debut solo album has sold over
1.6 million copies, and though the 2003 follow-up
Buenos Hermanos has only just passed the
quarter million mark, that shouldn't worry him.
"Now my turn has come … the curse that I carried
has been lifted," the singer remarks with
bittersweet satisfaction.
Jon Lusk, November 2003
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/world/awards2004/profile_ibrahimferrer.shtml)
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