Commemorating Celia and Compay.

• Author: Holston, Mark

The recent passing of no iconic figures of twentieth-century Cuban music marks the end of a movement that began in the 1930s, came to full flower in the 1950s, 1060s, and 1970s and remains popular with fans throughout the world to this day. Although they chose to pursue their careers in different nations and represented the old and newer sides of traditional Afro-Cuban dance music, the life stories of Company Segundo and Celia Cruz document in exquisite detail the nearly century-long evolution of the music that made Cuba a global culture superpower.

Segundo, whose given name was Maximo Francisco Repilado Munoz, died July 13 in Havana at the age of ninety-five. He was born November 18, 1907, in the provincial city of Siboney. He was introduced to music as a young boy by his elder brother who played the Cuban tres, a small guitar, which he learned to play along with the traditional Spanish guitar. Eventually, a hybrid of the two instruments, the seven-string armonico, became Segundo's trademark. Among his earliest experience as a performing Musician was playing the clarinet in a municipal band.

Segundo's niche was singing the low part of vocal harmonies in Cuban Trios (his nickname literally means "second compadre"). It was not until much later in life that he became a lead singer whose relaxed style and deep, resonant tone would make him an instant favorite with fans many decades his junior. Segundo's music is mostly derived from the traditional Cuban son, a rustic, elemental style that laid the foundation for virtually every form that followed, including the mambo, cha-cha, and salsa. After fading into relative obscurity in the 1960s, when he made his livelihood in a cigar factory, his career was rejuvenated in the late 1990s when North musician Ry Cooder recorded Segundo and several American blues musician Ry Coder recorded Segundo and several neglected Cuban master musicians under the banner of the Buena Vista Social Club. Segundo's recent discography includes the Las Flores de la Vida, Calle Salud, and...