July 15, 2003
Compay Segundo
Máximo Francisco Repilado Muñoz (a.k.a. Compay Segundo), the "elder statesman" of Afro-Cuban music, died on July 13 of a heart attack. He was 95.
Segundo composed his first song, “Yo bengo aquí,” when he was 15 years old. He moved to Havana in 1929, and played with El Conjunto Matamaros as a clarinetist for 12 years.
In 1942, Segundo and Lorenzo Hierrezuelo created Los Compadres. They played in nightclubs and achieved great success throughout Latin America. After the duo disbanded, Segundo formed Compay Segundo y sus Muchachos, a group that lasted until his death.
During his extensive career, Segundo registered 129 songs with the Spanish Performing Society, including "Chan Chan" and "Sarandonga." He began recording again in 1994 after a group of record executives heard him play in a bar. They immediately signed him and released six albums.
Segundo achieved international fame at 90 when he and a dozen Cuban musicians met in Havana to record an album and film a documentary with American producer Ry Cooder. The goal of the "Buena Vista" sessions was to recapture the lost music of the pre-Revolutionary nightclub scene in Havana.
The "Buena Vista Social Club" album sold over a million copies in the U.S. and won a Grammy Award in 1998 for best tropical Latin album. The movie by the same name won a New York Film Critics Circle award for best documentary in 1999, and received an Academy Award nomination that same year.
Posted on July 15, 2003 8:36 PM