The Cuban singer Ibrahim Ferrer emerged as the most popular star of the Buena Vista Social Club™ phenomenon. Ibrahim who is pictured on the cover of that classic album, was the audience favourite from the Wim Wenders’ film and went on to record solo albums produced by Ry Cooder and tour the world to a rapturous reception. Now World Circuit is proud to announce the release of his final album ‘Mi Sueño’ (My Dream) the project he dreamed of realising all his life – an album devoted to the most meltingly romantic of all Cuban styles – the bolero. “In the past I was never allowed to sing boleros. They used to say my voice was no good for it. Not manly enough. But thanks to Buena Vista, a path cleared ahead of me, a little bird knocked on my door and I got where I was meant to be.”For most of his career Ibrahim was best known as a rhythmic improviser in the up-tempo Afro-Cuban son style. Surprisingly not a household name, even in Cuba, his fame was restricted to a small group of aficionados and musicians, then in 1996, at the age of sixty nine, he was persuaded out of retirement to contribute to the Buena Vista Social Club album. His version of the bolero ‘Dos Gardenias’ was one of the album’s highlights and led to him being discovered by a whole new audience. Then two years ago Ferrer began recording the bolero album he had long dreamed of. ‘Mi Sueño’ is an intimate all-star session arranged by Roberto Fonseca, the remarkable young pianist with whom he had developed a deep musical understanding. Recorded in Havana with a wonderful small group that included Manuel Galbán on guitar and Cachaíto López on bass, the album is a very personal take on the bolero style – deeply traditional and at the same time startlingly modern. Full of passion and tenderness but still with an inimitable and irrepressible swing, Ibrahim sculpts familiar songs into fresh and atmospheric creations that are uniquely his own. The musicians in the basic quartet line-up of piano, bass, guitar and drums had been accompanying Ibrahim for many years and allowed both an easy interaction and room for experimentation. ‘Dos Almas’ and ‘Deuda’ have a more modern jazz-tinged feel with Ibrahim improvising over a single phrase, whereas ‘Cada noche un amor’ is more firmly in the Cuban bolero tradition. There is also variety in the instrumentations, strings provide the setting for ‘Si te contara’ and the classic ‘Quiéreme mucho’ also features a striking contribution from the harp. There are clarinets on the tango-bolero ‘Uno’ and the cumbia influenced ‘Copla Guajira’. There's a treat for fans of the late Rubén González whose piano playing can be heard on the Ry Cooder-produced ‘Melodía de Río’, and there is also a moving duet with Omara Portuondo on the classic ‘Quizás, Quizás’. Sadly three weeks before final recording was due to take place in August 2005, Ibrahim died at the age of seventy-eight. On his deathbed, he dictated a letter asking that his dream album be finished. Fortunately he had left high-quality demos of the songs with which he wished to make up the rest of the album. In the confusion surrounding his death these tapes were temporarily lost, causing a delay in the album’s completion. When the tapes were found, they not only completed the album Ibrahim had always dreamed about, but also are a fitting final testament that finds the singer still in heartfelt voice and singing the songs he loved best.
As Ibrahim said, “I have just one thing left to tell you all. We dream together and we will keep doing it. If my days ended tomorrow I would leave very satisfied in having achieved my wish, the wish was that dream: to sing a bolero.” A labour of love and the realisation of a dream, ‘Mi Sueño' presents Ibrahim Ferrer as one of the world's great bolero singers - the way he always wanted to be remembered. Ibrahim Ferrer