The composer and singer, Maximo Francisco Repilado Muñoz, beyond the borders of our country is recognized by the Cuban people as Compay Segundo, was born on November 18th, 1907 in Siboney, near Santiago de Cuba. He died on July 14th, 2003.
He was small even when trained as a tobacco twister and began working in the Montecristo cigar factory to help the family, although this did not prevent him to start playing "by ear" guitar and the Cuban tres and from both instruments invent a new one, the harmonic, a seven-string guitar, one of which repeats the note sun.
He studied with the master Enrique Bueno and, at fifteen, he managed to enter in the Municipal Band of Santiago de Cuba as a clarinetist. This activity, which assured him a salary allowed him singing in his spare time and start composing tunes. The first composition, the theme "Yo vengo aquí" , precisely dating from 1922, when they began interacting with great singers like Sindo Garay and Nico Saquito.
In 1949 he created, together with Lorenzo Hierrezuelo, guitarist at Siboney, the duo Los Compadres, born with the purpose of rescuing the music of "Monte Adentro", the sound of his eastern land. It was then that he received his nickname, since Hierrezuelo was known as Compay (diminutive eastern compadre) Primo (because he was the first voice), he who had played the harmonic and the second voice, became Compay Segundo.
The duo Los Compadres marked an era of Cuban music, and his songs as Macusa, My eastern sound, The neighborhoods of Santiago, I sing in the plain, Traces of the past, Hey gee, Vicenta or Sarandonga became popular hits and remain, including in the repertoire of Compay up his latest albums.
Compay Segundo enjoyed a new lease of life at 90, with his teammates enjoyed every applause and vibrated in the most important in the world with "Buena Vista", alongside the likes of Ibrahim Ferrer, Ruben Gonzalez and Omara Portuondo. The fame came in 1997, with his share of the Grammy-winning album "Buena Vista Social Club" by Ry Cooder. Since 1996 he recorded nine albums, including "Anthology of Compay Segundo", "I come here", "Calle Salud", "Greeting Compay" and "Flowers of Life".
Compay Segundo came through the front door into the elite of the international music circuit, and was presented at the most important stages of the world, from in Olympia Paris to Carnegie Hall in New York, and even in the Sala Nervi of the Vatican, where he performed before Pope Juan Pablo II. He sang with artists as diverse as Charles Aznavour, Raimundo Amador, Cesaria Evora, Martirio, Pablo Milanés, Khaled, Santiago Auserón and even Antonio Banderas.
Considered the patriarch of son, Compay was not only the peak figure of that genre and one of the greatest popular musicians of all time, is also remembered for cheerfulness, optimism and high sense of humor. Maximum Francisco Repilado Muñoz, Compay Segundo, proved the authenticity of feeling and being an artist village.
