MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Six decades after his last visit, the patriarch of
Cuban ``son'' rhythm, Compay Segundo, has returned to Mexico to present his
latest album of Caribbean rhythms, ``Calle Salud''.
The Mexican press has given 92-year-old Francisco Repilado Munoz, Compay
Segundo's real name, a jubliant welcome, feting the musician who shot belatedly
to fame four years ago for his part in the best-selling album ``Buena Vista
Social Club''.
The cigar-smoking musician last visited Mexico 61 years ago, touring the
country in 1938 as the new member of a quartet of traditional Cuban music.
Dubbed by the newspaper Reforma as ``the most international show-man of
Cuban son'', a traditional kind of Cuban music, Compay Segundo disappeared from
the public eye for 35 years when he worked as a house painter and barber, only
to reappear in 1996 to scoop a Grammy award for the ``Buena Vista'' album, a
huge commercial and critical success in the United States and produced by Ry
Cooder.
Compay Segundo appears in a documentary film also called ''Buena Vista
Social Club'' which recounts the lives of the musicians involved in the making
of the hit album.
Also decorated with Spain's National Prize Music and the prestigious Order
of Feliz Varela in his native Cuba, the aging singer-guitarrist said he had
composed between 100 and 200 songs in his long life.
Asked at a news conference in Mexico City about his opinion of Cuban
President Fidel Castro, who turns 73 on Friday, Compay Segundo said: ``Do you
think Fidel is there simply because his is Fidel? No my boy, it's the people ...
Fidel is the people and it's the people who love him.''
The musician will play at three concerns on his Mexican tour, two in the
capital and on its the western city of Guadalajara.
Reuters/Variety
20:56 08-12-99 |