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CD Review / Ibrahim Ferrer
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Shepherd Express, CD Review / Ibrahim Ferrer >>
Ibrahim Ferrer
"Ay, Candela"
When guitarist and producer Ry Cooder traveled to Cuba to assemble, from old age and obscurity, the masters of a musical tradition that had all died out in the years since Castro's revolution, Ibrahim Ferrer was shining shoes in Havana, having given up completly on music.
Despite initial resistance to participating, the singer felt the impact of the Buena Vista Social Club project deeply. "Before it was all the same to me if I lived or died; now I want to live," Ferrer told an interviewer upon the project's initial success. He did - continuing to record new material; winning a Grammy (which he was sadly unable to accept in person, due to tightening of visa policies by the Bush administration); touring extensively.
That he was able to enjoy, if only for a shot while, his new success comes as a comfort in a world that too often only pays attention when tragedy strikes. The renewed appreciation for Ferrer and other musicians of his like also means that, upon the singer's death last week at the age of 78, listeners had access to a sizeable portion of his early recordings.
One such complilation - released just a short while before Ferrer's death and comprised of original recordings taken directly from what seem to have been perfectly preserved master tapes - is entitled Ay Candela. The first in Cuban Essentialists series put out by Escondia Music, the disc offers a lively overview of Ferrer's career, including, among a range of Cuban standards, the only bolero Ferrer recorded solo before 1996, as well as performance staples "Ay Candela" and "De Camino La Vereda." Brimming with horns and drums, strings, maracas, and choruses, these bright, sonically textured selections pulse and rattle with life. But their centerpiece is Ferrer's voice, clear and emotive, as full of energy and passion in his later years as it is in any of the early recordings.
Ferrer is gone, and yet Ay Candela offers a degree of consolation, paying tribute to a career formerly lost to us; allowing the singer to burn on with all the heat of his signature song.
-by Caroline Goyette 09/18/05
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