Phases & Stages

Ibrahim Ferrer

Mi Sueño (Nonesuch)

This dream begins with "Dos Almas" – two souls – and a voice thick with age. Ages of colonial romanticism. Cuba's Ibrahim Ferrer, who died August 2005 at the age of 78, mustered centuries of courtyard serenades in every promise and regret pledged in a song. Unfinished at the time of his death, Mi Sueño, Ferrer's third Buena Vista Social Club solo LP, sounds it in spots. "Convergencia" and "Quiéreme Mucho" come across as vocal sketches, and yet the ancient nature of an album's worth of twilight boleros – Ferrer's final Dream – balances that out organically. BVSC backers Orlando "Cachaíto" López on bass and guitarist Manuel Galbán lay in perfectly behind franchisers Rubén González ("Melodía del Río"), Manuel "Guajiro" Mirabal ("Copla Guajira"), and Ferrer's Ginger Rogers, Omara Portuondo ("Quizás, Quizás"). The irresistible hitch of "Deuda" and the insistent supplication of "Perfidia" are all Ferrer's. González, Ferrer, Compay Segundo – gone. Three souls, one dance.