Compay
Segundo
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Granma,
Havana July 14, 2003
Death
of legendary Cuban musician
BY
VICTORIA M. COPA (DPA)
WITH
the death of Compay Segundo, Cuban music has lost one
of its most unique interpreters, a man who reached fame at
90 and although he came close, was not granted his wish to
live to 115. Máximo Francisco Repilado, born in the east
of
the island in Seboney on November 18, 1907, was recently the
most active musician of his age in the world and, at 90-plus
performed his sones and guarachas on countless stages
without abandoning his smile or his cigar.
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With
a musical history that dated back to his childhood,
this essentially Cuban and sympathetic man with a deep
baritone voice rubbed shoulders on the island with the
finest of his generation, including the Matamoros band, the
"fathers" of son, and the Los Compadres duo, which
he
founded and was the origin of his artistic name, as he was
the second voice. The composer of more than 100 pieces,
Compay Segundo studied clarinet, an instrument he played for
a number of years, although he was always to be seen playing
a version of an eight-string guitar that he crafted himself.
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He
was known on the island since the early 20th century,
particularly in his eastern region of Cuba. World fame came
at the age of 90, principally in Europe, and was
consolidated with his inclusion in the Buena Vista Social
Club, and winning a Grammy award. He attained diamond, gold,
silver and platinum status through prolific CD sales, and his
compositions stayed for weeks on end on the hit parades of
Spain, France and Colombia, among other countries.
One
of his CDs most praised by the critics was Duetos
(Duets), released in 2002, in which he sang with eminent
Cuban musical figures such as Omara Portuondo, Eliades Ochoa
and Silvio Rodríguez, and with foreign interpreters of the
stature of Cesaria Evora of Cape Verde and Frenchman Charles
Aznavour. In recent years he was never missing from Cuba's
cigar festivals, where his hat was auctioned and where he
recalled his days as a cigar roller spent among humidors and
aromatic leaves.
At
one of those fiestas he sang to President Fidel Castro,
who took his pulse and joked about his vitality despite his
90-plus years. "Who could have imagined that?" he asked
when
he found himself at the Vatican, performing his universally
known "Chan Chan" before Pope John Paul II. Shortly
afterwards in the United States, Hollywood stars Michael
Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones wildly applauded him. He
explained his longevity simply: mutton consommé and a drink
of rum.
When
he was asked how long he thought he would live, he
recalled that his grandmother died at the age of 115. "I'll
ask for an extension when I get there," he said.
Death,
however, didn't listen to him. .
Compay
... we will miss you!
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