Ignacio Jacinto Villa Fernández

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Bola was one of the most versatile singers that Caribbean music has produced. Singer, composer, and pianist. He was probably one of the most brilliant musicians that the Caribbean island has given and a genuine icon of Cuban idiosyncrasy.

He was born in Guanabacoa, a municipality in the province of La Habana where he lived a happy childhood with his 12 siblings and his parents, Inés Fernández, a homemaker, and Domingo Villa, a cook at a tavern. His mother was raised by Congos and Carabalís, possessed the grace of oral tradition, and had the spirit of an inveterate dancer in revelries until dawn, whether at neighborhood celebrations or improvised rumba sessions with sticks and cans, talented in both the finest cajón rumba and a Yemayá rhythm, educated by his father, a ñáñigo and dock foreman, among Congos, Carabalís, processions of dancing little devils and processions from cabildos... In that atmosphere of ancestral dances, of babalaos and bembe celebrations, the future Bola de Nieve was growing up.

Although the economic conditions in which they lived were not the most favorable, they did participate in the festive creole atmosphere of the village, which marked the artist's creative personality, bohemianism, and joy.

His great-aunt enrolled him in the municipal academy. Her name was Mamaquina and she said that he had to be an artist, according to her divination. Thanks to her he began his first studies in a small private school and, also encouraged by her, at age 12 he began classes in solfège and music theory. At first they thought of the flute, which was easy to learn and solved needs, then the mandolin, but the piano decided his destiny.

He enrolled at the Mateu conservatory at age eight and in 1923 began studying solfège and music theory. His aspiration was to become a doctor of Pedagogy and Philosophy and Letters, but when he enrolled in 1927 at the Normal Academy for Teachers, as he wanted to become a philosopher, the severe crisis that Cuba was suffering during Gerardo Machado's dictatorship made him see music as an alternative to pay for his university studies.

The singer Rita Montaner discovered him one night while he was playing piano at the Hotel Sevilla in La Habana. From then on, Montaner would be the godmother that Villa needed to make himself known in the world of music.

The origin of his nickname is divided into two opinions. For many, it was conceived by Rita Montaner on a performance night at the Havana Hotel Sevilla in 1930 or 1931, when he accompanied her on piano in "El manisero" and "Siboney". For others, like journalist Fernando Campoamor, it was the idea of a neighborhood doctor, Carlos Guerrero. Popular stories tell that Ignacio disliked the nickname, back when he was still not famous, when in his neighborhood he would wait at the Carral Theater to substitute for the pianist of the performance when he was absent, or to accompany the silent films that were screened there at that time. The neighborhood boys, in jest, called him "Bola de Fango" and "Bola de Trapo". Nonetheless, it was really Rita Montaner who made the nickname popular, which was first seen written publicly in Mexico, when the singer had it placed on the presentation placard: "Rita Montaner y Bola de Nieve".

At the end of 1929 he performed as an amateur in a show at the National Theater of Cuba imitating Argentine José Böhr, but it was not a great success. His first contract as a professional was with the band of Gilberto Valdés, which played at the La Verbena cabaret in Marianao.

And so it was, in 1933 during a recital in Mexico, Bola de Nieve substituted for Rita and sang. He unleashed the euphoria of the 4,000 people who packed the venue when he performed Tú no sabe inglé, Vito Manué a work by Eliseo Grenet and Nicolás Guillén. At that moment he was 22 years old and although he was popular in the Aztec land, nobody knew him in Cuba.

After this triumph, Ignacio Villa had the opportunity to perform on the best stages in Cuba and across much of the world. Ernesto Lecuona, who became his frequent spectator during this stage, eventually convinced him to return to his native Cuba to play piano for the Cuban public.

Upon arriving in La Habana he performed with Lecuona at the Principal theater pieces composed by the latter, such as "El cabildo de María la O" and "Como arrullo de palmas". He continued on a tour through the island as part of the cast of the composer who had launched him in Cuba, toured his art throughout Latin America, the United States, Europe, Russia, China, Korea, in addition to participating in some recordings with them... He shared the stage with great artists, such as Spanish Conchita Piquer; Teddy Wilson, Art Dayton and Lena Horne in Philadelphia; Ary Barroso and Dorival Caymmi in Brazil; Cuban Esther Borja; Argentine Libertad Lamarque...

The first time he sang exclusively compositions of his own authorship was in the city of Matanzas, where he performed pieces such as "Carlota 'ta morí" and "Mamá Inés", which honored his own mother. In 1950 he began on the Cuban radio network CMQ "El gran show de Bola de Nieve", in which he sang accompanied by an orchestra and invited renowned national and international artists.

The triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959 did not diminish his activity and nothing prevented him, and he even offered free concerts. Though prudent on political matters, he sympathized with the revolution and continued dedicating himself to his art and expanding Cuban music throughout the world.

Dressed in impeccable formal attire, elegant, Bola de Nieve expressed the spirit of Cuban popular music. On grand pianos, in sumptuous concert halls, there always flowed from his hands over the keyboard, and from his voice, the sounds of the cajón played on the streets of his native Guanabacoa.

Bola did not create a style, rather he was himself a unique style, perhaps unrepeatable. He carried within himself ancestral essences that he blended into a singular expression. His voice, his way of playing the piano, his theatrical gestures, and his manner of interpreting his own creations or those of national and foreign authors gave him an attractive and original mark that he carried throughout the planet. He traveled everywhere more than once, and they always asked him to return.

In 1965 the Monseigneur restaurant in the center of the Cuban capital was restored and converted into Chez Bola. This place became the usual venue for his performances and allowed him to be closer to the public. Bola de Nieve sang mainly in Spanish and when asked about his nationality, he always defined himself as Latin American, although he also performed numerous songs in English, French, Italian, Catalan, and Portuguese.

"When we listen to Bola it seems as if we are witnessing the joint birth of the word and the music that he expresses" Andrés Segovia.

Bola de Nieve suffered from diabetes and asthma and in January 1969 he was diagnosed with arteriosclerotic heart disease. Despite a heart attack he suffered in 1970, he declared "the disorders that diabetes is causing me do not incapacitate me from continuing to torture the piano and my public".

His last performance was on August 20, 1971 at the Amadeo Roldán theater, during a tribute to Rita Montaner. He appeared on television for the last time on the music program "Álbum de Cuba", one day after turning 60 years old. Chabuca Granda along with friends and admirers were preparing a tribute for him in Peru and, before leaving, he gave an interview on Radio Habana Cuba that would be his last.

He then departed for Mexico, a stopover on the way to Lima, and there he died at 5 in the morning on October 2, 1971. He passed away, curiously, in the same city where he had been born to the art world as Bola de Nieve. According to a Mexican journalist, upon arriving in the Federal District "he brought his usual smile and no one could have perceived that he would not see the Mexican Saturday, nor would he perform on Sunday in Lima, nor would he ever look upon his Cuba, nor sing to his Habana"... The day before his death, Bola toured the Mexican capital, made visits to artists and admirers... He seemed happy, joked, told anecdotes... He spoke of his future plans and the performances that awaited him in Peru. At 10 at night he decided to retire, saying: "tomorrow I want to wake up very early, as a very active day awaits me".

The man without a voice who had dominated stages and audiences in the most famous and most remote places disappeared physically. The man who was himself a spectacular and effective synthesis of personality, voice, and piano. He to whom his magic, which was born naturally from within, had made forever unique, indispensable. The man who, in a moment of confessions, would say, "everything is good in life when one believes or deceives oneself believing that one is creating art", and, in another moment, "I don't have fanatics, devotees is what I have. Why?... because I am the song; I don't sing songs nor do I interpret them. I am". And Señor Bola de Nieve had much reason.

Discography

Bola de Nieve's first record was an LP released in 1953 under the RCA Víctor Mexicana label, with arrangements and orchestration by José Sabre Marroquín. In it he performed compositions by María Grever, Vicente Garrido, Adolfo Guzmán, and by Bola himself.

At the end of the 1950s the Spanish company Montilla, during a tour through Europe, proposed that he record his second LP, which would contain only compositions by Cuban authors.

In the following decade he recorded in Cuba under the labels Egrem and RCA Víctor Cubana. In the early seventies, the album El inolvidable Bola de Nieve circulated in the Mexican market, in which, among other songs, there was one composed by John Lennon: "Es tan difícil".

In 1980 the Mexican record label Discos Fotón released LPs and cassettes Bola de Nieve 1 and 2 with original recordings collected in Cuba by Argentine-Mexican producer Modesto López.

In 1995 the Catalan record label Discmedi released a compact disc titled Show de Bola de Nieve, with recordings made live, and in 2003 the also Spanish Nuevos Medios released the compilation Bola de Nieve.

The releases by Discos Fotón have been recently reissued by Ediciones Pentagrama and they added two tracks that were not in the original. On this occasion photos of Bola de Nieve are presented and Óscar Castro illustrated the cover.

In some CD editions of the recordings of the Lecuona Cuban Boys, he appears singing and playing piano on some pieces.

Bola de Nieve (reissued in 1989)
With his piano (reissued in 1992)
Forever (reissued in 1993)
Ay Mama Inés (1994)
Black Magic (reissued in 1998)
I am the song itself (reissued in 2000)