After performing across the world since the release of Ry
Cooder’s “Buena Vista Social Club” album in 1996,
Ibrahim Ferrer is finally starting to look old.
Singing mainly songs from his recently released album
“Buenos Hermanos” in a concert on Tuesday night in
Royce Hall, Ferrer showed signs of aging not seen in concerts of
his past. Wrinkles were more visible on his face and in his hands.
He frequently held onto the microphone stand to support himself,
even while dancing. And his voice, while still beautifully wispy,
has begun to fade.
Songs from the “Buenos Hermanos” album require less
of Ferrer’s voice, and the two songs he sang that were not
from the album (“Marieta” and “Candela”)
were musically altered to make them less demanding to sing. Ferrer
even had to take a break halfway through the concert, leaving the
rest of the band to play two numbers without him.
To fill the gap, the band played a two-song tribute to pianist
Rubén González, a Cuban legend. González was with
the band in 1996 when it began touring, but has since retired.
During the tribute, the band’s current pianist stole the
show, and received nearly as energetic and loud a reception as
Ferrer himself.
However, Ferrer is the feature attraction. Four to five
spotlights flooded him whenever he was on stage, even during other
musicians’ solos. Cuban masters such as Manuel Galban
(guitar), Cachaito López (bass) and Guajiro Mirabel (trumpet)
played a distinct secondary role. Each had only a few tame solos.
Still, the supporting cast behind Ferrer, simply by playing the
notes and rhythms in the music, lifted the performance above
Ferrer’s diminishing voice.
But Ferrer still has much of the light, floating vocal quality
that helped propel him and the band to success, and he may be even
more successful than he realizes. The audience in the sold-out
Royce Hall erupted at the opening notes of any song, not
necessarily from his newest album or even at the mention of his
name. He’s almost like a Latin Elvis: the only phrase Ferrer
said in English the whole night was, “Thank you. Thank you
very much.”
However, every king’s reign must someday end. Without him,
the band may not have the drawing power it currently holds, but the
young talent of the other musicians will still be there.