Ibrahim Ferrer (1927-2005)

La Música Cubana (2003)
Oye El Consejo (2003)
(from Buenos Hermanos)

Not a good week for music folks...earlier this week, Little Milton passed away. Now, according to Ibrahim Ferrer's representatives in Cuba, he has passed away at age 78. Ferrer was the lead vocalist of the Buena Vista Social Club. Ferrer began singing in the 1940s in Santiago, Cuba. He led a lengthy career, but he limited his musical career in the 80s. Ry Cooder brought him back into the public light in the late 90s.

The two recorded an album, along with a number of Cuban music legends, which was extremely successful. Shortly after that album, Cooder went back to Cuba to record an album with just Ferrer. Those recording sessions were documented and released in 1999. In his 70s, Ferrer picked up a Latin grammy (for new artist nonetheless!) thanks to the Buena Vista Social Club presents Ibrahim Ferrer album.

I had planned to do a post about Ferrer in a few weeks, but decided to bump it up because of his passing. There are a lot of albums that Ferrer appears on, but Buenos Hermanos was the album that introduced me to the legend. It came out on Nonesuch Records and is available pretty much everywhere. Ibrahim Ferrer was still active. His newest album was just released on May 3rd of this year.