Bola de Nieve
Ignacio Jacinto Villa y Fernández , known as Bola de Nieve , (born September 11, 1911 in Havana , Cuba , † October 2, 1971 in Mexico City , Mexico ) was a Cuban pianist and singer .
Bola de Nieve's musical development was influenced by his mother, who taught him the full range of Afro-Cuban music, and by his aunt Tomasa, known as Mamaquica, who financed his music education.
He became known through a tour in 1933 with Rita Montaner to Mexico . There he appeared for the first time as a soloist in the Teatro Politeama in Mexico City in front of an audience of 4,000. Rita Montaner is said to have given him the nickname Bola de Nieve ("snowball") as an ironic allusion to his round body shape and his deep black skin color.
Since his success in Mexico he has developed with his unmistakable voice and his chanson-like songs into an almost legendary figure in the internationally influential Cuban music scene in the 1940s and 1950s. Bola de Nieve worked with musicians like Ernesto Lecuona and poets like Nicolás Guillén .
After the Cuban Revolution of 1959, he also went on numerous tours to Eastern Europe.
documentary
- José Sánchez-Montes: The Life of Bola de Nieve , Spain 2003, 73 minutes
Web links
- Bola de Nieve on Allmusic (English)
- Bola de Nieve in the official Cuban web encyclopedia EcuRed (Spanish)
- Gaspar Marrero: ¿Cuántos discos nos quedan de Bola? In: Bohemia from August 11, 2011 (Spanish)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Press information on the film (PDF; 59 kB) from the Salzgeber film distribution company, accessed on December 19, 2012
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Bola de Nieve |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Villa y Fernández, Ignacio Jacinto (real name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Cuban musician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 11, 1911 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Havana , Cuba |
| DATE OF DEATH | 2nd October 1971 |
| Place of death | Mexico City , Mexico |