Máximo Francisco Repilado Muñoz. (*Siboney, 18 de noviembre de 1907 - † La … Read Full Bio ↴Máximo Francisco Repilado Muñoz. (*Siboney, 18 de noviembre de 1907 - † La Habana, 14 de julio de 2003). Fue músico y compositor cubano de amplia trayectoria mundial.

Llegó a ser un popular compositor e intérprete, muy conocido entre los amantes de la música cubana. Comenzó tocando la guitarra, el clarinete y el bongó. Fue el inventor del armónico, un instrumento de siete cuerdas, entre la guitarra española y el tres cubano. También tocó la tumbadora.

Comenzó su carrera musical muy joven cuando compuso sus primeras canciones y tocaba en grupos de Santiago con su conocido armónico. Pero su fama internacional le llegó en 1997 con su participación en el disco Buena Vista Social Club, el cual ganó varios premios Grammy. Compay Segundo apareció también en la película del mismo nombre realizada posteriormente por Wim Wenders.

En los últimos años actuó ante millones de espectadores y grabó nueve discos. No pudo cumplir su sueño de llegar a la edad de 116 años, en la cual murió su abuela. Falleció en La Habana debido a una insuficiencia renal con 95 años.

La canción más importante de Compay Segundo es "Chan Chan".

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Compay Segundo (November 18, 1907 – July 13, 2003), was a Cuban musician and songwriter.

Segundo was born Máximo Francisco Repilado Muñoz and brought up in the city of Santiago de Cuba. He became a songwriter and performer, well-known to fans of Cuban music. He was also the inventor of the armónico, a seven-stringed guitar-like instrument.

In his early years he played the guitar, the clarinet and the bongos. He also played the congas.

His curious stage name derives from the fact that he played second voice in a popular duet of the 1950s called Los Compadres (compadre, or compay for short, in Cuba means "baptism brother", but as a colloquialism is used also to designate a good friend).

However, international fame only came in 1997 with the release of the Buena Vista Social Club album, a hugely successful recording which won several Grammy awards. Compay Segundo appeared in the film of the same title, made subsequently by Wim Wenders.

His most famous composition is "Chan Chan", the opening track on the Buena Vista Social Club album, whose four opening chords are instantly recognizable all over the world. "Chan Chan" was recorded by Segundo himself various times as well as by countless other Latin artists.

At a fiesta he sang to Presidente Fidel Castro, who took his pulse and joked about his vitality despite his 90-plus years. "Who could have imagined that?" he asked when he found himself at the Vatican City, performing "Chan Chan" before Pope John Paul II. He explained his longevity simply: mutton consommé and a drink of rum.

He predicted that he would live to be 115, but died of kidney failure in Havana, twenty years short of his ambition, and three days before Celia Cruz.

Juramento
Compay Segundo Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Yo te juro arrastrarlas por los mares
Infinitos y negros de mis penas
Infinitos y negros de mis penas

Si el amor hace sentir hondos dolores
Y condena a vivir entre miserias
Yo te diera, mi bien, por tus amores
Hasta la sangre que hierve en mis arterias
Hasta la sangre que hierve en mis arterias

Si es surtidor de místicos pesares
Que hace al hombre arrastrar largas cadenas
Yo te juro arrastrarlas por los mares

Infinitos y negros de mis penas
Infinitos y negros de mis penas

Overall Meaning

In Compay Segundo's song "Juramento," the lyrics discuss the intense pain and struggles associated with love. The first stanza uses vivid imagery to convey the depth of the pain caused by love, stating that it can lead one to live in misery and feel excruciating pain. Yet despite this, the singer proclaims their willingness to give everything they have, including the blood that runs through their veins, to the person they love. The second stanza continues with the theme of the burdens of love, describing them as mystical sorrows that can make a person feel as though they are chained and weighed down. However, the singer swears to carry these burdens through the oceans of their own personal suffering.

Overall, the lyrics of "Juramento" convey a deep sense of commitment and sacrifice in love. The singer is willing to endure seemingly endless pain and misery for the sake of their beloved, an act that highlights the strength and enduring power of true love.

Line by Line Meaning

Si el amor hace sentir hondos dolores
If love causes deep pain

Y condena a vivir entre miserias
And forces you to live in poverty

Yo te diera, mi bien, por tus amores
I would give you, my love, for your love

Hasta la sangre que hierve en mis arterias
Even the blood that boils in my veins

Si es surtidor de místicos pesares
If it is a source of mystical sorrows

Que hace al hombre arrastrar largas cadenas
That makes men drag long chains

Yo te juro arrastrarlas por los mares
I swear to drag them across the seas

Infinitos y negros de mis penas
Infinite and dark with my sorrows