It was the reward for a man who had known no other life than making music, even inventing his own guitar-the seven-stringed ‘armonica’-because he found normal guitars too restricting for the mellifluous Cuban son rhythms and melodies that filled his head. Mine arrived after I was 90.’Īs leader of the veteran musicians he became a cult figure, even starring in an acclaimed documentary about the group. When he was interviewed recently, he said: ‘The flowers of life come to everyone. A musician all his life, he did not become famous until in his nineties as the spiritual leader and charismatic soul of the worldwide phenomenon, the Buena Vista Social Club. In a music industry dominated by teen bands and the quest for the next young starlet, Compay Segundo was a refreshing anomaly. The first to die was Compay Segundo, aged 95. Both were Cuban and both were heroes of their people, even as they represented two wholly disparate strands of Cuban society. In one week in July this year, two of the greatest personalities of world music died.
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