Gracias Compay: The Definitive Collection

Performer: Compay Segundo
Artist: Omara Portuondo; Khaled; Silvio Rodriguez; Pio Leyva
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: Personnel includes: Compay Segundo [Francisco Repilado] (vocals, guitar, armonico); Benito Suarez (vocals, guitar); Julio Fernandez, Hugo Garzon (vocals, maracas); Khaled (vocals, synthesizer, percussion); Omara Portuondo, Silvio Rodriguez, Pio Leyva, Basilio Repilado, Martirio, Santiago Auseron (vocals); Raimundo Amador (flamenco guitar); Salvador Repilado (contrabass). Although Compay Segundo will ever be remembered as one of the great characters of Buena Vista Social Club, that was only one tiny part of his career. Gracias Compay: The Definitive Collection captures some of the great songs from the second wind of his career, when he'd become an international star again. Inevitably, there's his signature song, "Chan Chan," in not one but two versions, but it's simply one of many diamonds here, like "Saludo A Chango," where he duets with rai star Khal�d, and comes out ahead with his laid-back style. That style, however, was typical of the music of Santiago, and it permeated everything Segundo did. The harmonies on the chorus, the singing lines on the tres (or at times on Segundo's own armonico, a cross between a tres and a guitar), and the stripped-down backing of bass and percussion -- his music was just redolent of the area, and it can be heard in his very affecting "Guantanamera," or the recent "Oui Parle Francais." A witty, eloquent writer, he composed more than his share of classics in a long career, and many of them are here, songs like "Saradonga," given definitive performances. And that helps this album really live up to its name. ~ Chris Nickson

Long before his star turn on 1997's BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB album and documentary, guitarist and songwriter Compay Segundo (born M�ximo Francisco Repilado Mu�oz) started out, in the '30s, playing classical clarinet. He later joined the popular El Conjunto Matamoros, where he developed into a world-class guitarist in the son genre--one of the traditional Afro-Cuban styles that eventually mutated into salsa. By the early '40s, he had formed a duo called Los Compadres where he was able to showcase his songwriting gifts, melodious voice, and guitar chops, and for which he invented a seven-stringed instrument called the armonico. In the mid '50s, when the duo parted ways, he formed his own band, which played together until his death at 96 in 2003.

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