Cubans Bid Buena Vista's Compay Segundo Farewell Tue Jul 15,12:46 PM ET Add Entertainment - Reuters to My Yahoo! By Nicolas Garcia SANTIAGO, Cuba (Reuters) - Thousands of Cubans took to the streets of this eastern city on Tuesday to say goodbye to Compay Segundo, the Buena Vista Social Club guitarist and singer who shot to international stardom in the twilight of his life. Reuters Photo Reuters Slideshow: 'Buena Vista Social Club' Star Compay Segundo Dies Grammy-Winner Compay Segundo Dies at 95 (AP Video) Mourners lined the streets of Compay's hometown where he began his career eight decades ago playing clarinet in the local municipal band. Some cried and others threw flowers as his coffin rode by, draped in a Cuban flag. Compay, whose real name was Francisco Repilado, died on Sunday in his Havana home of kidney failure. He was 95. The cigar-smoking Compay gained world fame when he was 90 with the Grammy-winning recording and documentary film of the Buena Vista Social Club, which relaunched the careers of a collection of aging musicians all but forgotten in Cuba and virtually unknown off the Caribbean island. His trademark hat and dapper suit and tie endeared Compay to audiences from Paris to New York and Tokyo as the frontman for the group that revived interest in traditional Cuban music. The record has sold more than 4 million copies. Cubans cried as his cortege moved along a 2.5 mile route to the cemetery to a funeral march by the Santiago municipal band. Compay's songs were played at his crowded wake in the local government headquarters and his best-known song -- "Chan Chan" -- blared from loudspeakers as his coffin left the building. "He was a tremendous character," said Ana Lilia, a retired worker, as the coffin rode past. "He was a product of the Cuban music that everyone likes." "Compay was one of the glorious figures of Cuban music and represented us internationally, defending the revolution and its principles," said Ruben Gales, 25. At the cemetery, family and friends sang a last "Chan Chan" before the coffin was lowered into a grave loaned by the Cuban army. The largest flower wreath was sent by President Fidel Castro. LATE FAME Born in 1907 in Siboney, outside Santiago, Compay began composing music in his teens and playing in bands with the "armonico," a seven-string guitar he developed to increase the harmony of the Cuban "son," a traditional musical form that was a forerunner of today's salsa. He acquired his nickname singing the bass harmony second voice in the duo Los Compadres he formed in 1942 with Lorenzo Hierrezuelo. Compay is Cuban slang for "compadre," or buddy, and Segundo referred to the second voice. In the 1940s and 1950s, Compay played with well-known Cuban musicians such as Miguel Matamoros and Benny More. After Castro's 1959 revolution, many old-time musicians were swept aside by the new folk music of a communist society. Compay rolled Montecristo cigars for two decades at the H. Upmann factory in Havana. He played for tourists in the 1980s. His return from obscurity was thanks to a recording made in 1996 when American guitarist and producer Ry Cooder assembled in Havana the Buena Vista group of talented old musicians, including Compay, pianist Ruben Gonzalez, and singers Ibrahim Ferrer and Omara Portuondo. The group became a worldwide phenomenon that was enhanced by the documentary filmed by German director Wim Wenders. The unassuming Compay enjoyed the stardom with philosophical modesty and vowed to continue playing and fathering children until after he was 100. His deteriorating health forced him to stop touring this May. "We will always remembers his mischievous smile," said Portuondo. return to Cuban Cigars home page |
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