Ibrahim Ferrer was seventy-two years old when he released his "debut" album, The Buena Vista Social Club Presents Ibrahim Ferrer, in 1999. By that gauge, the three-year layoff between that record and his next, Buenos Hermanos ("Good Brothers") -- due in March -- was a flash.

Ferrer's new record is part of Nonesuch's ongoing commitment to recording venerable Cuban legends nearly rendered anonymous over the past four decades. The septuagenarian singer scored a regional hit in 1955 crooning "El Plantanar de Bartolo" with Orquesta Chepin-Choven, though he wasn't billed when the song was shipped internationally. He logged time singing with legendary ensembles headed by Beny More and Pacho Alonso, and hooked up with Los Bocucos, with whom he sang until 1991, when frustrated by decades of performing without progress, he retired.

Four years later, guitarist Ry Cooder was assembling a group of Cuban musicians, for an album that would become the 5 million-selling, Grammy-winning Buena Vista Social Club. Ferrer was invited to sing on several cuts including "Candela" and "Murmullo" and has been globetrotting ever since. Presents Ibrahim Ferrer was issued in 1999 and has sold 1.5 million copies to date, and Ferrer has been tapped to appear on solo releases by fellow Social Club members Ruben Gonzalez and Omara Portuondo, a pair of releases by the Afro-Cuban All-Stars, Damon Albarn's Gorillaz album, and the latest release by Orchestra Baobab.

Like the last Ferrer release, the recording was produced by Cooder (who also plays guitar), primarily at the famed Egrem Studios in Havana. Hermanos will feature BVSC bassist and cornerstone Orlando "Cachaito" Lopez, Miguel Anga Diaz on congas, and Jim Keltner and Joachim Cooder on drums and percussion. A handful of guests including the Blind Boys of Alabama, pianist Chucho Valdes and accordion great Flaco Jimenez also make appearances. Manuel Galban, former guitarist and band leader for the Cuban doo wop ensemble Los Zafiros, also adds piano to several tracks, his playing a "main anchor" in the project, according to Cooder. Galban and Cooder have their own release on the way, as they lead a six-piece ensemble on Mambo Sinuendo, due January 28th.

Cooder also says that the past six years of recording and touring have made Ferrer a stronger vocalist. "He's a lot more confident and vigorous now than before Ibrahim," he says. "So he can tackle things, complex things he could never have done say five or six years ago. He wouldn't have even tried them."

The accompanying music has also moved forward with Ferrer. "We've pushed the envelope in terms of the energy curve from other people," Cooder says. "I guess you could say the record has a something of a different vitality than the first one. The first one we did was a great, beautiful, big sounding record. This one is a little less large. There aren't quite the horn and string sections, but it is rocking like mad. It is up and rocking."

Track listing for Buenos Hermanos:

Boquinene
Buenos Hermanos
La Musica Cubana
Guaguanco Callejero
Naufragio
Como el Arrullo de Palma
Perfume de Gardenias
Mil Congojas
Hay que Entrarle a Palos a Ese
No Tiene Telarana
Fuiste Cruel
Boliviana

Ibrahim Ferrer tour dates:

2/6: Providence, RI, Performing Arts Center
2/7: Boston, Orpheum Theater
2/9: Pittsburgh, Benedum Center
2/12: Chicago, Chicago Theater
2/13: Madison, WI, Oscar Mayer Theater
2/14: Indianapolis, Clowes Memorial Hall
2/16: Atlanta, Atlanta Symphony Hall
2/17: Knoxville, TN, Tennessee Theater
2/19: Upper Darby, PA, Tower Theater
2/21: Toronto, Corp of Massey Hall
2/24: Montreal, Wilfrid Pelletier Hall
3/25: Vancouver, Orpheum Theater
3/26: Seattle, Paramount Theater
3/28-29: San Francisco, Masonic Auditorium
4/1-2: Los Angeles, Royce Hall/UCLA

ANDREW DANSBY
(January 15, 2003)