DESCRIPTION: Ibrahim Ferrer was a Cuban singer who played with Los Bocucos for nearly forty years. He also performed with Conjunto Sorpresa, Chepín y su Orquesta Oriental and Mario Patterson. After his retirement in 1991, he was brought back in the studio to record with the Afro-Cuban All Stars and Buena Vista Social Club. He then toured internationally with these revival groups and recorded several solo albums for World Circuit before his death in 2005.
Musicians in Cuba have never been paid much and Ferrer is one of the remarkable number of vintage musicians who has been supported on a small state pension which he supplemented by the hard earned money he received by shining shoes. Ferrer lived in Old Havana in a tiny apartment within a crowded and moldering nineteenth-century house with his wife and assorted junior relatives. As money is tight (the average monthly salary is $15), the older generations tend to conserve their small pensions by hanging out not far from their open doors. This is exactly where Ferrer was when destiny came knocking and is best explained in Ibrahim's own words, "An angel came and picked me up and said, 'Chico, come and do this record.' I didn't want to do it because I had given up on music. But now I have my own record, my first one ever, so I'm very happy. I don't have to shine shoes anymore." That angel took him to make the Afro-Cuban All Stars CD, A Toda Cuba Le Gusta.
Ferrer at afrocubaweb: http://www.afrocubaweb.com/ibrahimferrer.html
