Ibrahim Ferrer

Buenos Hermanos

About this Album

2003 Latin Grammy Award Winner

Buenos Hermanos is a record that both confirmed Buena Vista Social Club singer Ibrahim Ferrer as one of the world’s great vocalists and secured his place among the all-time greats of Cuban music.

Like the original Buena Vista Social Club album and his 1999 solo debut, Buena Vista Social Club presents Ibrahim Ferrer, this album boasts the same production team of Ry Cooder, Nick Gold, and engineer Jerry Boys.

The hand-picked core band is an unusual ensemble that combines the Cubans Orlando "Cachaíto" López on bass; Manuel Galbán on electric guitar, piano, and organ; Chucho Valdés on piano; and Miguel ‘Angá’ Díaz on congas; with the Americans Jim Keltner and Joachim Cooder on drums, and the album’s producer Ry Cooder on guitars.

The core band is expanded variously over the course of the album by horn and string sections, with male and female backing vocals. There is inspired flavoring on different tracks from accordionist Flaco Jimenez and the gospel-charged voices of The Blind Boys of Alabama. Their presence brings to five the number of Grammy winners on the album, alongside Ry Cooder, Chucho Valdés, and Ibrahim Ferrer himself. Others appearing on the record include innovative trumpeter Jon Hassell and veteran saxophonist Gil Bernal.

The result is an album that is firmly rooted in tradition but at the same time expands the horizons of Cuban music and finds Ferrer in bolder voice than ever before.

“These are songs that make me feel younger,” said Ferrer. “I have put my deepest feelings into them, and it’s my way of giving something back to my listeners and thanking them for their support. I enjoy feeling there is something inside what I am singing.”

Buenos Hermanos is a record full of surprises. The varied repertoire includes classic songs and thrilling examples of the romantic ballads and boleros for which Ferrer was justly famed, such as "Perfume de gardenias" and "Fuiste cruel." But these are treated in a different way: the former featuring dramatic contributions from The Blind Boys of Alabama and ex-Coasters sax man Gil Bernal, the latter’s modern approach highlighted by Jon Hassell’s distinctive trumpet playing.

But Buenos Hermanos is also a record full of variety and unique energy. There’s the free-flowing improvisation of "La música cubana," composed spontaneously in the studio by Ferrer and Chucho Valdés; the explosive rhythms of "Hay que entrarle a palos a ése," with Galbán’s time-warp organ solo; and the gritty guitars of Cooder and Galbán on "No tiene telaraña." The two guitarists are juxtaposed to strikingly different effect against Demetrio Muñiz’s orchestral arrangement on "Mil congojas." There’s the playfulness that Flaco Jimenez’s accordion brings to "Naufragio," the charming cha cha cha "Como el arrullo de palma," and the pop sensibility of the lovely "Boliviana," which Valdés originally wrote for Irakere in the 1970s.

To all of them, Ibrahim brings both his ripe and long-standing vocal and a confidence and self-assurance that, according to Ry Cooder, puts him up there alongside such all-time giants of Cuban music as Ferrer’s own personal hero, Beny Moré.

“I think the album’s a goddamn classic,” Cooder said. “It’s the ultimate Latin record. Beny Moré had great charisma. But I don’t think anybody else other than Ibrahim would or could make a record like this.” It has every kind of nuance and subtlety that it could possibly have, as well as muscle”.

“It’s the big one because Ibrahim has ramped up to this,” Cooder added. “You had his appearance from nowhere on Buena Vista. Then his first solo record put him there as a great singer. But this record takes him where nobody else has gone. It’s still elegant and eloquent. But it’s in your face too.”