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 was in his musical development influenced by his mother, who gave him the full range of Afro-Cuban music and by his Aunt Tomasa, called Mamaquica that financed his musical education.

He became famous for a tour in 1933 with Rita Montaner to Mexico. There he made ​​his first appearance as a soloist at the Teatro Politeama in Mexico City in front of 4,000 spectators on. Rita Montaner is given the nickname Bola de Nieve ( " snowball " ) have given an ironic allusion to his round body shape and his deep black skin color.

Since his success in Mexico, he developed his distinctive voice and his chanson like songs to an almost legendary figure of the internationally influential in the 1940s and 1950s, the Cuban music scene. Bola de Nieve worked with musicians such as Ernesto Lecuona and poets such as Nicolás Guillén.

After the Cuban Revolution of 1959, he also undertook numerous tours to Eastern Europe.

Documentary

• José Sánchez- Montes: The Life of Bola de Nieve, Spain in 2003, 73 minutes