{"id":4212,"date":"2025-07-16T18:12:47","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T22:12:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radioenciclopedia.cu\/cultural-news\/?p=4212"},"modified":"2025-07-16T18:12:47","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T22:12:47","slug":"compay-segundo-a-distinctive-sound-in-cuban-trova","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.radioenciclopedia.cu\/cultural-news\/compay-segundo-a-distinctive-sound-in-cuban-trova-16072025\/","title":{"rendered":"Compay Segundo: A Distinctive Sound in Cuban Trova"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>M\u00e1ximo Francisco Repilado Mu\u00f1oz, known worldwide as Compay Segundo, brought a unique sound to Cuban trova. His exceptional musical voice, combined with the creation of a new stringed instrument, established him as an innovator in the genre.<\/p>\n<p>Fame and fortune arrived late in life for Compay. Approaching his nineties, he became one of the most recognized elder trovadores, captivating audiences from around the globe with his music.<\/p>\n<p>A guitarist, clarinetist, and composer, Compay was born in the hospitable city of Santiago de Cuba on November 18, 1907. Throughout his extensive musical career, he built a vast repertoire, composing over a hundred original pieces. Some of his most memorable songs include \u00abSarandonga,\u00bb \u00abLa calabaza,\u00bb \u00abSaludos, compay,\u00bb and the iconic \u00abChan Chan,\u00bb which tells the story of a journey from Alto Cedro to Marcan\u00e9, and then to Mayar\u00ed.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Compay Segundo - Chan Chan (Videoclip Oficial)\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Pw2BBJr3MnA\" width=\"750\" height=\"415\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>I had the rare privilege of meeting him personally, not backstage, but in his own home. It was early in the day, before he had put on his signature jipijapa hat. He held his first unlit cigar of the day in one hand, waiting to savor his morning coffee.<\/p>\n<p>Soft-spoken and gracious, Compay carried the wisdom of Santiago\u2019s traditional trovadores \u2014 the very cradle of son and bolero. He was born to the poetry of nature on one of Cuba\u2019s most beautiful beaches, Siboney, near the heroic city.<\/p>\n<p>From humble beginnings in a peasant family, he inherited a habit of smoking from his grandmother \u2014 a freed slave who lived to 115 \u2014 and perhaps a genetic gift for longevity.<\/p>\n<p>In 1916, at the age of nine, Compay moved with his family to urban Santiago after his father lost his job with the railroad. There, he helped support the household by working as a barber, though music strongly pulsed through his veins, as it did in four of his seven siblings.<\/p>\n<p>To further assist his family, he became a cigar roller at the renowned Montecristo cigar factory. At the same time, he studied music under Noem\u00ed Toro, a young violin and mandolin player whose father was the principal of his elementary school. Once Toro affirmed he was ready to play an instrument, Francisco chose the clarinet, which he purchased from a hobbyist, paying for it by rolling cigars in the man\u2019s small workshop. Later, he took up the guitar and the tres cubano, eventually inventing a new instrument by combining the two: the arm\u00f3nico, a seven-string guitar where one string repeats the G note.<\/p>\n<p>His first trip to Havana came in 1929 as a tres player with the Santiago Municipal Band for the inauguration of the National Capitol. He later returned to the capital with popular guarachero \u00d1ico Saquito and his group, a trip that led him to settle permanently in Havana.<\/p>\n<p>In the 1940s, Compay joined the famed Miguel Matamoros ensemble as a clarinetist and had the honor of performing with legends like Benny Mor\u00e9. He later traveled to Mexico, where he met another young musician from his hometown, Lorenzo Hierrezuelo. In 1942, the two formed the legendary duo Los Compadres.<\/p>\n<p>Hierrezuelo sang lead while Repilado took the second voice, earning him the stage name \u201cCompay Segundo\u201d \u2014 a moniker that would define his artistic career. In addition to working with Hierrezuelo, Matamoros, and \u00d1ico Saquito, Compay also performed with the Sexteto Los Seis Ases and the Cuarteto Cubanac\u00e1n.<\/p>\n<p>In the 1980s, he formed his own group, marked by a distinct style and sound. He performed in Havana and toured internationally \u2014 visiting the United States, Spain, England, Switzerland, Italy, France, Guadeloupe, Trinidad and Tobago, and several other Caribbean nations \u2014 earning widespread acclaim.<\/p>\n<p>His deep, resonant voice complemented world-renowned singers, and in 1998, he was a featured artist on the Grammy Award-winning album *Buena Vista Social Club*.<\/p>\n<p>Among his many accolades are the \u00c1guila de Cristal (France), Cuba\u2019s Sello de Laureado (the highest honor awarded by the National Union of Cultural Workers), a Grammy Award in the late 1990s, the Distinci\u00f3n por la Cultura Nacional, and the Orden F\u00e9lix Varela. His discography includes more than 20 albums, and he also made appearances in films.<\/p>\n<p>M\u00e1ximo Francisco Repilado Mu\u00f1oz \u2014 better known as Compay Segundo \u2014 passed away in Havana on July 14, 2003. Although he did not reach his grandmother\u2019s remarkable age, he lived 95 full, creative, and vibrant years, leaving behind a rich and enduring legacy.<\/p>\n<p>Today, his music continues to resonate with fans of traditional Cuban music \u2014 a\u00a0genre, as the saying goes, \u201cyou can dance on a single brick.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Translated by Luis E. Amador Dominguez<\/p>\n<p>Photo: Radio 26<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>M\u00e1ximo Francisco Repilado Mu\u00f1oz, known worldwide as Compay Segundo, brought a unique sound to Cuban trova.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4213,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[966],"ppma_author":[109],"class_list":["post-4212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-specials","tag-compay-segundo"],"authors":[{"term_id":109,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"gilberto-gonzalez-garcia","display_name":"Gilberto Gonz\u00e1lez Garc\u00eda","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.radioenciclopedia.cu\/cultural-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.radioenciclopedia.cu\/cultural-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.radioenciclopedia.cu\/cultural-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.radioenciclopedia.cu\/cultural-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.radioenciclopedia.cu\/cultural-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4212"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.radioenciclopedia.cu\/cultural-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4212\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4214,"href":"https:\/\/www.radioenciclopedia.cu\/cultural-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4212\/revisions\/4214"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.radioenciclopedia.cu\/cultural-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.radioenciclopedia.cu\/cultural-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.radioenciclopedia.cu\/cultural-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.radioenciclopedia.cu\/cultural-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4212"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.radioenciclopedia.cu\/cultural-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=4212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}