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Mi Sueño
When Grammy-winning Buena Vista Social club lead vocalist Ibrahim Ferrer died in August 2005 at the age of 78, he was within a few weeks of accomplishing a lifelong ambition: to record an album of suave, sexy, elegant Cuban boleros. The first acknowledged tune of the genre, "Tristezas," was composed in Santiago by Pepe Sánchez during the late 1800s. The form was descended from a Spanish waltz-like dance of the same name, which in turn evolved from the French contradanse and, even earlier on, from English rural styles. Strangely, Ferrer had repeatedly been told that his voice was not sufficiently "manly" for these leisurely, achingly romantic ballads. But judging by the present tracks--and despite the inevitable depredations of age, which only give his interpretations an added, rueful vulnerability--this is demonstrably untrue. The singer's reedy tenor, in some cases rescued from high-quality demos with instrumentals recorded posthumously, touches places in a listener's soul that no power-popster with an umpteen-octave range and mud-slides of melisma could remotely approach. Ferrer is joined by BVSC band-mates Rubén González (piano) and Omara Portuondo (vocals) on one tune each and is accompanied by the soulfully rinky-tink piano of Roberto Fonseca, Orlando "Cachaíto" López's sinuous, resonant acoustic bass and Manuel Galbán's sensitive guitar, with Ramses Rodrigues and Emilio del Monte manning trap drums and percussion. Overall, Mi Sueño ("My Dream") has a late-night feeling, as though captured amid an after-hours jam in a smoky, malt-scented Havana nightclub, long after sleeves have been pushed up and chairs piled on the tables. --Christina Roden
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Tracks| 1 | Dos Almas | | 2 | Si Te Contara | | 3 | Melodia del Rio | | 4 | Cada Noche un Amor | | 5 | Deuda | | 6 | Uno | | 7 | Convergencia | | 8 | Quiereme Mucho | | 9 | Perfidia | | 10 | Copla Guajira | | 11 | Quizas, Quizas | | 12 | Alma Libre |
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