[1] El Camisón de Pepa (Pepa's Dress) (Flores) - 3:51
[2] Tú Querías Jugar (You Want to Play) (Repilado) - 4:03
[3] Desdichado (Unlucky) (Moré) - 5:58
[4] La Ternera (The Calf) (Repilado) - 3:27
[5] Para Vigo Me Voy (Heading for Vigo) (Lecuona) - 5:08
[6] Fidelidad (Fidelity) (Goico) - 3:20
[7] Cuba y España (Cuba and Spain) (Repilado) - 6:38
[8] Es Mejor Vivir Así (Better to Live Like... (Gómez) - 3:34
[9] Frutas del Caney (Fruits of Caney) (Caignet) - 3:04
[10] La Juma del Ayer (Yesterday's Drunkenness) (Guevara) - 4:43
[11] Linda Graciela (Lovely Graciela) (Ortiz) - 4:25
[12] La Pluma (The Pen) (Repilado) - 2:51
[13] Juliancito (Tu Novia Te Botó) (Hierrezuelo/Repilado) - 4:41
[14] Son de Negros en Cuba (Lorca/Repilado) - 4:58
Silvio Rodríguez - Vocals
Pio Leyva - Vocals
Omara Portuondo - Vocals
Raimundo Amador - Flamenco Guitar
Frank Bejerano - Bongos
Elpidio Chapottin - Trumpet
Félix Valoy - Vocals
Javier Salas - Photography
Barbarito Torres - Lute
Benito Suárez - Guitar, Vocals
Salvador Repilado - Bass, Background Vocals
Hugo Garzón - Maraccas, Vocals, Guiro
Pedrito Ibañez - Guitar
Adél Rodriguez - Bongos
Basilio Repilado - Vocals, Background Vocals
Enrique Bergery - Trombone
Humbert Zalvídar - Trumpet
Martirio - Vocals
Cotó - Tres
Carlos Ruíz De La Tejera - Recitado
José Louis Crespo - Mixing, Mastering, Artistic Production
Louis Lázaro - Artistic Production, Excetuvie Producer, Inline Notes
Javier Salas - Cover Photography, Inlay Photography
Manuel Zambrana - Inlay Photography
Arturo Itrube - Graphical Design
Legendary Cuban guitarist Compay Segundo was born in 1907;
collaborating with the likes of Sindo Garay, Miguel Matamoros and Benny
Moré, he emerged as one of the most respected musicians of the
pre-revolution era, and in the late 1920s invented the armónico,
a guitar customized with a double third string to fuse the tonal
qualities of the traditional Cuban tres guitar and its Spanish
counterpart. Following Fidel Castro's rise to power, Segundo worked as
a cigar roller before returning to music during the late 1980s; now in
his early nineties, he attracted worldwide attention in 1998 for his
contributions to Ry Cooder's wildly successful Buena Vista Social Club
album, issuing the solo Calle Salud the following year. Buena Vista
Connection was issued in fall 2000. Flores de la Vida followed a year
later; Trova Cubana surfaced in early 2001.
Jason Ankeny, All-Music Guide
90-year-old sonero Maximo Francisco Repilado Munoz Compay Segundo,
nicknamed "Pancho," is known for his many years of singing with his own
group, Los Compadres, and Miguel Matamoros (also working as a
clarinetist). Here he is titled strictly a "backing" vocalist, but he
is much more than that, flexibly blending in higher and lower tones
with various "lead" singers as Hugo Garzon, Pio Leyva, Felix Valoy,
Silvio Rodriguez, Martirio, Omara Portuondo, son Basilio Repilado, and
a host of percussionists, acoustic bassists and small percussionists.
Segundo also plays a combination guitar/tres called the Armonico, a
stringed instrument of his own invention, which is frequently heard
atonally strumming as minor spice to the improvisations of others. The
vocal-guitar-bass-conga (or bongo) format is exploited in midtempo
rhythms throughout these 14 tracks, several of them romance songs. "Tu
querias jugar" is the newest "son" song, written by Segundo, a tale of
love in vain for a wicked woman, with Garzon's deep lead and the great
Elpidio Chappotin's plaintive muted trumpet. The most regret-filled are
a lament for one far away with Martirio and Valoy on the weepy bolero
"Es mejor vivir asi" and a pining for (beautiful) "Linda Graciela" with
young Repilado and trombonist Enrique Bergery. Dour turns to happy on
the slow-to-fast Beny More evergreen "Desdichado" ("Unlucky"), with
more guitar interplay entering into this tune than the others. "Pepa's
Dress," a 1927 son, expresses the colorful nature of Cuban clothing,
fawning over said female in her accoutrements. Leyva and Segundo depict
a binge of drinking during "La juna del ayer" (with two others), fill
"La Ternera/The Calf" with double entendres, and trade lines on the
'20s pregon "Frutas del Caney," which talks of hawking fruit at the
marketplace. There's also Ernesto Lecuona's invitation to dance on
"Para Vigo me voy," the married frustration with "Fidelidad" from
Rodriguez, Segundo and Salvador Repilado, and Martirio's stern
flamenco-drenched warning ("envy can become a sickness") regarding a
departed lover's flight for "Juliancito" with a splendid descarga
bridge, the best of the date. Two songs speak of country and home away
from home: "Son de negros" is a tribute to Santiago, Cuba inspired by
Federico Garcia Lorca, while "Cuba y Espana" relates the two countries'
interconnection with a vocal segment, then a full stop, then
instruments joining and stopping throughout the piece. Barbarito Torres
is included on this one playing the lute as only he can, brilliantly.
There's also "La pluma," written as a jingle in 1947 for Paper Mate
("you are the paper, I am the pen"), with Portuondo and Segundo meshing
beautifully. If you are looking for a contemporary recording that puts
the last hundred years of Cuban folkloric tradition into focus and
perspective, this is the must-buy item that goes beyond the recent
Latin-jazz and Afro-Cuban, instrumentally oriented offerings. It
parallels the very heartbeat and true soul of Cuban tradition.
Michael G. Nastos, All-Music Guide
Der 90-jährige kubanische Gitarrist und Sänger, den die
meisten erst seit Ry Cooders Film Buena Vista Social Club kennen,
feiert mit diesem Album sein Comeback. Obgleich Segundo hier von seiner
eigenen Band begleitet wird, ist Lo Mejor De La Vida ebenso eine
Mischung aus zarten akustischen Gitarren, komplexen afrokaribischen
Rhythmen und relaxten, spontanen Grooves wie Buena Vista. Bei der
Zusammenstellung des Albums hat Segundo einige Stücke seiner
ersten Blütezeit der zwanziger und dreißiger Jahre
ausgewählt, deren klassische Stimmungen er perfekt wiedergibt,
ohne daß sie jedoch wie Museumsstücke zu klingen. Obgleich
das Album weniger variiert als das All-Star-Projekt Coopers, wartet es
nicht nur mit den Lead-Vocals mehrerer legendärer kubanischer
Sänger auf, sondern bietet stellenweise auch subtile
Trompetenklänge und überraschend passende Gastauftritte des
revolutionären Barden Silvio Rodriguez und des
Flamenco-Gitarristen Raimundo Amador. Die Gastmusiker glänzen auf
diesem Album, den Zusammenhalt gewährleisten jedoch die Harmonien
und die flinke Gitarrenarbeit von Segundo, dessen makellose
musikalische Darbietung dieses etwas ausgedehntere Album voll und ganz
rechtfertigt.
Elijah Wald, Amazon.de
Der vitale Senior mußte ewig warten, bis außerhalb Kubas
jemand von ihm Notiz nahm. '97 kam der Erfolg mit den Afro-Cuban
All-Stars und Ry Cooders Buena Vista Social Club geballt, Grammy
inklusive. Mit stolzen 90 kann Francisco Repilado alias Compay Segundo
nun über "Das Beste im Leben" schwärmen: mal sinnlicher, mal
melancholischer Son, sonorer Folkpop-Gesang voll Schmackes und Schmelz,
lebenspralle Rhythmen und virtuoser Saitenzauber - fehlen nur Cocktail
und Hängematte zum Glück!
