Compay
Segundo
Legendary Cuban musician dies at 95
By Bill Hackwell
Compay Segundo, one of the best-known
singers/songwriters of traditional Cuban music died recently in
Havana after performing for over 80 years.
It was only after he turned 90 that Compay received
international recognition for his authentic interpretation of
Son, the music of his native Eastern Cuba that combines harder
African rhythms with Spanish lyricism. The emergence of this
music from Santiago de Cuba was instrumental in breaking down
discrimination against Black music in Cuba and laid the
groundwork for modern Cuban salsa.
To better play Son, Compay developed a unique 7-string
guitar that added richer harmonics and blended with his
signature baritone voice. The composer of hundreds of songs,
Compay Segundo is linked to the important early Trova group, El
Conjunto Matamoros, and the great Benny More. He got his stage
name when he was around 40, performing as the second voice in
his group Los Compadres--a word Cubans shorten to compay.
Born Maximo Francisco Repilado Munoz in 1907, Compay Segundo
emerged in recent years as a cultural ambassador for Cuba,
packing concert halls in Europe and around the world. The
musical legacy of Compay can be heard on every street corner,
school and community center in Cuba.
Despite having to suffer over 40 years of being blockaded by
the U.S., Cuba continues to promote and excel in music and
performing arts on all levels of education and life. The
popularity of this music around the world was realized in 1997
with the film "The Buena Vista Social Club," a project of U.S.
guitarist and producer Ry Cooder and Cuban Juan de Marco
Gonzalez.
"The Buena Vista Social Club" featured Compay and fellow
veteran Cuban musicians Ibrahim Ferrer, Eliades Ochoa and Ruben
Gonzalez. The album sold over a million copies in the U.S.
alone and won a Grammy Award in 1998 for best tropical Latin
album. Despite the obvious popularity of Cuban music in the
U.S., the State Department continues to routinely deny visas to
musical and cultural performers from Cuba.
Speaking on his longevity recently, Compay had joked that he
wanted to live as long as his grandmother--a freed slave who
lived to 115. At his funeral in Santiago de Cuba, thousands
came out to pay tribute to this talented and dignified man.
Cuban Minister of Culture Abel Prieto commented that Compay
always maintained his traditional roots: "His death is a great
loss because everything that Compay represented is the most
authentic part of Cuban popular and musical culture."
Reprinted from the July 31, 2003, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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