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Compay Segundo's

Charismatic, Cuban to the bones, witty and, above all, a master of the harmonica —an instrument he reinvented himself— Compay will live on for forever more as an all-time world icon of Cuban

Francisco Repilado marches on in the second century of his legend. In Havana, his memory keeps burning in the house where he lived the last days of his lifetime. On First Avenue and 22nd Street, in the neighborhood of Miramar, the Compay Segundo House-Museum treasures memorabilia ranging from his harmonica and a hybrid of three-stringer and guitar that the charismatic artist used to play, to the paintings that his authors gifted him with, some of the featuring his own image or tokens of his ingenuity, like the one that celebrated painter Eduardo Roca (a.k.a. Choco) once gave him. The house’s galleries display his many trophies and awards he won, the clarinet that marked his tenure in the Matamoros Orchestra and he cut his musical teeth with at the Santiago de Cuba Concert Band, and the humidor that preserves the cigar brand named after him. There lies the rustic chair and the table where the maestro used to drink his morning coffee and light the first cigar of the day while doing a line-by-line reading of a newspaper. “A man unaware of what’s going on around the world jumps out of bed naked,” he once told me a year and a half before his passing on July 14, 2003. A glance around this institution also reminds us of the fact that Compay Segundo’s contributions to Cuban discography goes beyond the splendid bevy of tunes he started churning out since the early 1990s when the Buena Vista Social Club brought him back into the world limelight, this time around for good. During his early years in Havana, Compay Segundo played for the Hatuey Quartet, first under the leadership of Justa Garcia and later on with Evelio Machin, brother of larger-than-life Antonio Machin, as well as of Marcelino Guerra. After touring Cuba in the late 1930s with the Hatuey Quartet and then with the Matamoros Orchestra, one fine day Compay started doing the accompaniment voice to Lorenzo Hierrezuelo while he was cutting his hair. That off-the-cuff jam session gave birth to Los Compadres, formed by Compay Primo (Lorenzo) and Compay Segundo (Repilado). Once a month they used to record a single for the PANART label. This linkage with the recording industry carried on, though in a humbler way, when Compay —following his breakup with Lorenzo— put together his own band: Compay Segundo and his Boys. True is that all through the 1960s and for most of the 70s the veteran troubadour found himself sidelined from the stage and the airwaves. He even went back to one of the things he knew best: the trade of cigar rolling. However and in spite of all that, he went back to the studios of San Miguel in 1978 to cut a new album with his own band that featured his nephew Juan Enrique Coquet and his daughter Amparo as lead singers. We can speak of a second wind from the late 1980s on when Eliades Ochoa invited him to make a record with the Patria Quartet and when, as recommended by musicologist Danilo Orozco, he showed up at an international event organized by the Smithsonian Institute in the United States. . The rest of the story is well known: Compay Segundo became a universal icon. His roots must never again be forgotten.

“There’s something about his music that’s closely tied up to life. That’s why people want to listen to it. I quickly noticed that virtue in Compay Segundo and he captivated me since the first time I listened to him” Ry Cooder. Buena Vista Social Club producer

Biographic Milestones • 1907. Born in Playita Siboney, Santiago de Cuba, on November 18. • 1913-1929. He lived in Santiago de Cuba and learned the trade of cigar roller. Cut his musical teeth playing the clarinet. • 1929. He played for the Santiago’s Municipal Band during the grand opening of the National Capitol in Havana. • 1935. He joined the Ñico Saquito’s band in the nation’s capital. • 1942. He founded the well-known duo Los Compadres with Lorenzo Hierrezuelo. • 1956. He formed the Compay Segundo y sus Muchachos, a band he worked with from that moment on. • 1962. He traveled to the People’s Republic of China with a delegation of workers. • 1988. A presentation at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington with the Patria Quartet. • 1992. He took part in the Son and Flamenco Encounter in Spain’s Seville. • 1995. He wowed people in Madrid and Paris. From that year on he logged over 300 international presentations in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas. • 1997. He cut the Buena Vista Social Club album and jumped back into the world recording industry. • 2003. He passed away in Havana.

Album Tips 1997. Buenavista Social Club 1999. Lo mejor de la vida 1999. Calle Salud 2000. Llegaron Los Compadres (a flashback to his duo time) 2002. Las flores de la vida 2002. Duetos 2007. Cien años. 100th Birthday (3 CD & DVD)