Artist Profiles: Compay Segundo

Compay Segundo – Many people discovered Compay Segundo thanks to the Buena Vista Social Club. However, Compay had been making music long before he crossed paths with Santiago Auserón or Ry Cooder.

Born Máximo Francisco Repilado Muñoz Telles in 1907 in Siboney, a city in the Cuban province of Santiago, Compay Segundo was a vital link with Cuba’s musical history and participated in the development of the son tradition. He learned how to play guitar from Sindo Garay in the early 1920s . “The first person I heard playing guitar was Sindo Garay. He came to my home with a guitar. I liked the guitar. Then, when I left my hometown, Siboney, to go to Santiago I learned how to play the tres. And I later learned music theory and classical music. It was then that I learned how to play the clarinet. I started to play with the municipal orchestra of Santiago. Its director was my teacher.”

Segundo was connected to many notable musicians and groups, including El Conjunto Matamoros, which he joined in 1939 as a clarinetist and stayed with for twelve years. In the years that followed, he embarked upon perhaps the most successful venture of his long career, almost by accident. One day in 1942, while cutting Lorenzo Hierrezuelo’s hair (both men came from Siboney), one of them suggested forming a duo. They called themselves Los Compadres and Segundo recalls their thirteen-year association as the most enjoyable time of his career. It was during this period that Segundo acquired his nickname — Compay was slang for compadre (buddy) and Segundo referred to his trademark bass harmony second voice. Los Compadres disbanded in 1953 and Compay continued to perform intermittently as a solo artist for several years, while also rolling tobacco leaves at a cigar factory.

Segundo composed hundreds of songs that form part of the large son repertoire. He was also the inventor of an instrument called the armónico, a hybrid between the Spanish guitar and the Cuban tres. Formally known as trilina, the armónico, which has seven strings (the third string [D] is doubled), allowed Segundo to exploit all of the possibilities of both the guitar and tres. “I started to play the tres and the guitar, but between the tres and the guitar there is a harmonic jump that does not continue. The armónico is similar to the guitar and it is my own creation.” Compay Segundo had a guitar maker create the armónico following his instructions. “No one else plays it and I would like to teach someone, although you can learn how to play by listening to the recordings.”

In 1956 Segundo formed his own group called Compay Segundo y sus Muchachos, which started out as a trio and then became a quartet. Although the group had numerous personnel changes, Segundo kept it going for many years.

Compay Segundo reached the international spotlight in 1994 when he traveled to Spain for a concert. “It was July of 1994 for the first Encounter of Flamenco and son. That was very beautiful. We played with Martirio and Raimundo Amador. He is the best flamenco guitarist. There are a lot of similarities between son and flamenco. I have a son that is performed by Martirio. I made great contacts in Spain. I recorded three or four albums and we made the anthology.”

Compay Segundo currently recorded for Spain’s DRO East West, who released Antología in 1996, a compilation of some of his greatest hits produced by the Spanish musician Santiago Auserón.

In 1997 Compay Segundo participated in the Grammy Award-winning recording Buena Vista Social Club (World Circuit), a collaboration with many of Cuba’s finest musicians, including Rubén González, Ibrahim Ferrer, Eliades Ochoa, and the American guitarist and producer Ry Cooder. “People liked it because there are several singers and there is also Ry Cooder, who is a good American guitar player. It was done with very good taste. The songs were very well selected like Pepa tiene un camisón. I performed on three songs. There is Orgullecida which has an American feel to it. It is a very good album and the movie portrays it very well.”

In 1996 Segundo made a new recording called Lo Mejor de la Vida (The Best in Life), in celebration of his 90th birthday. The record, produced by DRO East West, was released in September 1998 by Nonesuch the United States, an event that marked Segundo’s US debut release as leader. The album included collaborations with many well-known Cuban and Spanish musicians, including Silvio Rodríguez, Omara Portuondo, Pío Leyva, Martirio, and Raimundo Armador, in renditions of new Segundo compositions as well as songs written by Benny Moré, Ernesto Lecuona and Welfrido Guevara.

In the year 2000, at the age of 93, Compay Segundo recorded Las Flores de la Vida which was meant as a message to the youth, to encourage them to be patient because the flowers of life will come at some point during their lifetimes. The album included traditional Cuban songs such as Guantanamera, El beso discreto and Juramento, as well as five new compositions like the one that gave title to the album, Las Flores de la Vida. Compay Segundo wrote some verses as he was flying from Germany to Italy. Once back in Havana he added music to the lyrics and while he was yet again flying from Havana to Rome, he added the arrangements.

Compay’s final live band included several clarinet players. “I have now three clarinet players in the band. It sounds very beautiful. Audiences really like it. They say it’s a very good idea because they are soft instruments. They are not harsh. They blend very well with the armónico.”

In 2000 Compay Segundo received a diamond album for having sold over 1 million copies of his albums.

Luis Lázaro, Compay’s manager, producer and friend, wrote the Cuban artist’s biography. The book is full of good humor and anecdotes like Compay’s meeting with the Pope, who insisted on having Compay use the elevator because of his age, his first encounter with Fidel Castro at the age of 93 or his visit to Antonio Machín’s grave and toasting with a glass of rum.

In May of 2001, Compay was hospitalized for extreme fatigue after an extensive tour. At the time, it was announced that Compay would retire, but the Cuban legend soon recovered and started to perform again and even wrote a play titled Se Secó el Arroyito (The Stream Has Dried Up) that was staged in Havana.

At the end of 2001, a new collaboration album featuring compay Segundo was presented in Cuba. This time it was a CD with “boleros”, “guarachas” and “sones,” recorded by Compay Segundo, and one of the upcoming artists in Cuban popular music at the time, Fernando Borrego, known as Polo Montánez. Compay Segundo considered Polo “a talented man, a good singer and a terrific composer.” Both musicians had met earlier at Vuelta Abajo’s tourist center of San Diego, worldwide famous for its medicinal waters, and where both musicians discovered how art and life brings them together. Their intention was to combine the delightful music of the Cuban eastern provinces, and that of the most western provinces’ country songs with strong Spanish influence. They sing in duet songs such as “Chan Chan” and “Un montón de estrellas”.

Compay Segundo, in his 90s, was a Cuban living legend, a crucial bond with Cuba’s rich Spanish and African-influenced musical past. He became an international music star, playing for sold out audiences in Spain, England and other European countries. He also made music videos, like many of today’s pop stars.

Compay Segundo died on July 13, 2003.

Partial Discography:

Yo Vengo Aquí (DRO EastWest – Warner Music Spain, 1996)
Buena Vista Social Club (World Circuit, 1997)
Antología (GASA – Warner Music Spain, 1996)
Lo mejor de la vida (GASA – Warner Music Spain, 1998)
Calle salud (GASA – Warner Music Spain, 1999)
Chanchaneando (Egrem, 2000)
Antología (2001)
Las flores de la vida (GASA – Warner Music Spain, 2001)
Duets (GASA – Warner Music Spain, 2002)
Buena Vista Social Club at Carnegie Hall (World Circuit, 2008)
Lost and Found (World Circuit, 2015)

Books

Compay Segundo by Luis Lázaro. Published by SGAE-Fundación Autor, Spain.