Compay Segundo

Máximo Francisco Repilado Muñoz was born on November 18, 1907, in Siboney. Learning the clarinet and guitar as a boy, he earned the nickname 'Compay Segundo' because he sang the harmonic second voice (segunda voz) in the famous duo Los Compadres with Lorenzo Hierrezuelo.

Inventing the 'armónico'—a hybrid guitar combining classical and tres strings—he retired to roll cigars in Havana. In 1996, at age 89, Ry Cooder enlisted him for the Buena Vista Social Club; his composition Chan Chan became a global phenomenon, winning a Grammy and captivating audiences from Carnegie Hall to Tokyo until his death at 95.