He's best known for finding international success late in life after
collaborating with Ry Cooder on the Buena Vista Social Club album, but Compay
Segundo had been recognised in Cuba much earlier as one of the country's
best-loved singers and composers. Moving to Santiago de Cuba at the age of nine,
he began playing clarinet in the municipal band there and later graduated to
playing guitar and tres (a type of South American guitar), effectively making
his name playing tres and singing in the duo Los Compadres with Lorenzo
Hierrezuelo in the 1950s. They became hugely popular in Cu...