Ibrahim Ferrer, R.I. P.

Ibrahim Ferrer, one of the stars of the Buena Vista Social Club, died on August 6 in Havana. He Was 78.

Ferrer was the delicate-featured man with the omni-present cap and the beautiful voice:

Ferrer's manager, Daniel Florestan, said the singer had died of multiple organ failure after returning from a month-long European tour on Wednesday.

Despite his fading health, Ferrer, who had suffered from emphysema, had continued to perform.

His wife, Caridad Diaz, said she was "deeply affected" by his death. She told the Associated Press: "He was a very worthy person; to be admired, not only as a musician, but also as a father and a husband".

Rest in peace.

Comments

[A.M. Mora y Leon]

I was a big fan of Ibrahim Ferrer. Here is the obituary I wrote for him on Babalublog.

http://www.babalublog.com/archives/002065.html

Something I got quite scolded and berated for among some of my Cuban-American buddies but I will not back down on this.

Ferrer was a great artist whose art was never corrupted by any ideology. I don't care who discovered him or who claimed credit for him or who got ignored while he got a few years of fame. That's irrelevant. What matters is what he did and the legacy he left. What he left behind was a great embracing authentic art that unites everyone who listens.

Rest in peace, great artist.

[akaky]

I put Buena Vista into the VCR last night just to see him again; there was just something about the way Ferrer, and all of them, really, absolutely loved this chance to make music again, not from some egotistical I'm-finally-getting-my-chance thing, but because they loved the music, they loved to perform, and they loved the chance to get their music out to people who may never have heard it before. In the film Ferrer talks about how he hoped the man upstairs would give him a few years to enjoy all of this. I certainly hope he did enjoy all of this for the time he had it; he deserved it.