Segundo Compay

' Buena Vista Social Club ' musician; 95

Compay Segundo, the wiry, cigar-smoking musician who was nearing 90 when he soared from obscurity to worldwide fame with the " Buena Vista Social Club, " has died in Havana. He was 95.

Mr. Compay, who performed in public less than a week before his death, died of kidney failure July 13, said his granddaughter, Frances Valeria Repilado.

Born Maximo Francisco Repilado Mu oz, Mr. Compay carried traditional Cuban music to the world. He was honored with a Grammy as part of the " Buena Vista Social Club " in his 90th year and helped draw attention to other aging but talented Cuban musicians.

He set audiences dancing from Havana to Paris with hits such as " Chan Chan, " which brought modern appeal to a musical genre that had largely been forgotten even at home in Cuba.

" Symbolically, he represented our culture to the entire world, " said Omara Portuondo, who sang on the " Buena Vista " record and who stood alongside Mr. Compay ' s casket during a viewing at a Havana funeral home July 14. " I would say that he is part of the Cuban flag. "

A longtime musician in Mr. Compay ' s group, guitarist Benito Su rez, said Mr. Compay was " always happy, joking. " At an appearance last week, he told reporters he would like to father another child.

Mr. Compay was noted for his sporty, Borsalino-type hats and a seemingly ever-present cigar. Suarez said he told friends that he had smoked his first cigar at age 5, and he continued smoking nearly to the time of his death.

His hat lay amid flowers atop his wooden casket July 14. Nearby stood a huge bouquet of flowers sent by Cuban President Fidel Castro.

Mourners applauded as a casket containing his body left a funeral home where a memorial was held. He was buried in his boyhood home of Santiago.

On July 8, he had played briefly at a tribute concert hosted by his sons at Havana ' s Hotel Nacional, where a concert room is dedicated to him.

Born Nov. 18, 1907, in the eastern town of Siboney, he was 9 when he moved with his family to nearby Santiago, the heart of Cuban musical culture. By age 14, he was playing the clarinet in his hometown ' s municipal band.

Each concert, he recalled, had to begin with a waltz and several stately danzon dance pieces. " It was the era of romanticism, " he said in a 1998 interview with The Associated Press, setting down a glass of rum to saw at an imaginary violin.

Cuban son mixing harder African rhythms with Spanish lyricism was coming into its own, breaking down discrimination against " black " music and laying the groundwork for modern Cuban music such as salsa.

He emerged as a well-known musician in Cuba, playing with Nico Saquito, the Cuarteto Hatuey and his own duo, Los Compadres, until 1953.

He developed a unique seven-string guitar that he called the armonica that had a doubled middle string to add harmonics for Cuban son rhythms.

He got his nickname when he was about 40 and performing as the second voice in the duo Los Compadres a word Cubans shorten to compay .

In the late 1950s, he formed a group called Compay Segundo y sus Muchachos (Compay Segundo and his Boys) for a tour of the Dominican Republic.

After the 1959 triumph of the Cuban revolution led by Castro, Compay continued to perform intermittently as a solo artist and occasionally made appearances on local radio stations. His day job was rolling H. Upmann coronas in a local cigar factory.

The Cuban music magazine Salsa Cubana reported that some music experts in the 1980s did not even know he was still alive.

He was playing at Havana hotel when a Spanish tourist heard him and invited him to perform in Spain in 1994. He was a hit, and went on to make several records there.

A few years later, he was packing concert halls in Europe and his fame grew far wider when he was featured on the hit record " Buena Vista Social Club. " The record, which won a 1997 Grammy, was named after a former club in Havana and features traditional Cuban son .

The record, and Mr. Compay ' s popularity, also helped bring renewed fame to musicians such as Pio Leyva, Rub n Gonz lez and Portuondo.

A widely praised film of the same name, based on the sessions, was directed by Wim Wenders.

The Hotel Nacional held a three-day celebration in Mr. Compay ' s honor on his 95th birthday last year. He moved a bit slowly and was slightly hard of hearing, but remained lucid.

" I feel content, successful . . . you shouldn ' t succumb to boredom, " he told reporters.