Arts & Lectures
2001-2002 Performing Arts Season News Release
For Immediate Release

December 14, 2001
Contact: Susan Gwynne
(805) 893-2098
e-mail: gwynne-s@sa.ucsb.edu

The Lobero, UCSB Arts & Lectures and Sings Like Hell present Orquesta Ibrahim Ferrer, stellar Cuban musicians from the Buena Vista Social Club

Summary Facts:

Orquesta Ibrahim Ferrer, a roster of Cuban musicians made world-famous by the Buena Vista Social Club recordings and documentary film, will perform on Tuesday, January 15 at 8 pm in the Arlington Theatre. The orchestra is led by the 73-year-old vocalist Ibrahim Ferrer, whose moving croon often earns comparisons to Nat King Cole. The ensemble also features the brilliant horn solos of Jesus “Aguaje” Ramos on trombone and Guajrio Mirabel on trumpet. The San Francisco Examiner writes of the group, “The unique beauty of the singing and the warmth of the lyric content are matched by the proud spirit of the musicians.”

The Buena Vista Social Club takes its name from an old members-only club situated in the hills of east Havana. The initial stirrings of the group grew out of the Afro Cuban All Stars, formed by Nick Gold, record producer and founder of the label World Circuit, at the insistence of Juan de Marcos Gonzalez, a Havana-based musician. Gold had hoped to record a union between Cuban musicians and West African guitarists with American guitar maestro Ry Cooder as the bridge between cultures, but the Africans could not get visas. Not wanting to waste the musical energy in the air, the group and Cooder recorded the tracks that would launch the Buena Vista phenomenon in 1997.

Vocalist Ibrahim Ferrer, who had never been famous in Cuba in his own right and had even worked the streets as a shoeshine to make a living, emerged as the one true discovery of the Buena Vista sessions. Ferrer spans Cuban musical traditions, from rural Santiago to urban Havana, although his obvious specialty is the bolero. These soulful laments of unrequited love are a striking match for his suave, supple tenor. The Los Angeles Times claims that Ferrer has “the ability to express inexhaustible joy and longing.” His 1999 debut album and the first in his sixty year career, The Buena Vista Social Club Presents Ibrahim Ferrer, earned him rave reviews; Ferrer himself said at the time of its release, “It is a dream come true...this has given me the will to live. I’m living the dream of my youth in the body of an old man.”

Orquesta Ibrahim Ferrer is the second ArtAbounds event of the 2001-2002 performing arts season, following the sold out, triumphant success of the Miami City Ballet in October 2001. An innovative partnership between UCSB Arts & Lectures and The Lobero, ArtAbounds permits both organizations to bring to Santa Barbara international artists of the highest stature that neither could present on its own. Joining ArtAbounds as a co-presenter for this one performance is Sings Like Hell. This project is funded in part by the Audience Development and Marketing Grant Program using funds provided by the City of Santa Barbara in partnership with the Santa Barbara County Arts Commission. Remaining ArtAbounds performances are French dance sensation Compagnie Maguy Marin on April 9 at the Lobero and the Paul Taylor Dance Company on April 19 & 20 in UCSB Campbell Hall.

The performance by Orquesta Ibrahim Ferrer is sponsored by the Santa Barbara News-Press, Borders Books and Metropolitan Theatres Corporation.

Tickets are currently unavailable but a limited number might go on sale the day of the show. Those interested in tickets should call the Arlington Ticket Agency on January 15 at 963-4408 beginning at 9 a.m.

For tickets or more information,
call UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535.

Editor: For photos, please call
Susan Gwynne at (805) 893-2098.

©2001 UCSB Arts & Lectures, University of California, Santa Barbara