Ferreira was born in the cigar-manufacturing town of Amaceyes Tamboril, near Santiago in the Cibao region of the north-western Dominican Republic. The region is famous for merengue périco ripao, the traditional Dominican music, and his family, all big music lovers, filled his childhood home with the music spurring Zacarías on to dream of becoming a musical artist himself. The desire to improve himself motivated him to leave for the country’s capital