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Chan Chan

Buena Vista Social Club · 1997 · written by Compay Segundo, from the album Buena Vista Social Club

Four towns, a sieve full of sand and a very flustered man: the little son Compay Segundo dreamed up, which took Cuban music around the world in the 1990s.

The story

  1. 1.On the road

    The singer is on his way through the Cuban countryside, town by town: from Alto Cedro to Marcané, then on to Cueto and Mayarí.

  2. 2.What he can't hide

    He can't deny the affection he feels for her. It gets the better of him, and the chorus keeps coming back to it.

  3. 3.At the beach

    Juanica and Chan Chan are sieving sand at the edge of the sea. As she shakes the sieve, her whole body sways, and Chan Chan doesn't know where to look.

  4. 4.Clear the path

    He asks for the path to be cleared of straw: there's a tree trunk up ahead he'd like to sit on, and he can't get to it like this. Cuban son loves a line with a second meaning, and many listeners hear one here.

Key phrases

  • “De Alto Cedro voy para Marcané”From Alto Cedro I'm heading to MarcanéAlto Cedro, Marcané, Cueto and Mayarí are real towns in Holguín, in eastern Cuba, and the chorus runs through them like a route. Naming real places is an old habit of Cuban son: it pins the song to a map.
  • “En el mar cernían arena”They were sieving sand at the seaCernir is to sift. Sand was sieved by hand to get the stones and shells out: ordinary work, and the setting for the song's joke.
  • “Como sacudía el jibe”The way she shook the sieveA jibe is Cuban for a coarse sieve, the kind builders use. Shaking one means swinging your hips, and that's the point.
  • “A Chan Chan le daba pena”It made Chan Chan embarrassedIn Cuba, dar pena usually means to embarrass, not to sadden. Chan Chan isn't sorry, he's flustered.
  • “El cariño que te tengo”The affection I feel for youCariño is tenderness, affection. The chorus says he can't deny it.

Context

Compay Segundo (Francisco Repilado) wrote Chan Chan in the 1980s. He said he dreamed it: he woke up with the melody in his head, as if a band were playing it in the street, and built the words on a story from his childhood.

He recorded it more than once before March 1996, when veteran Cuban musicians gathered at the EGREM studios in Havana for an album produced by Ry Cooder. Buena Vista Social Club came out in 1997 with Chan Chan as its first track, and it became a worldwide hit that carried Cuban son to listeners everywhere.

The whole song turns on just four chords, the same few bars from beginning to end. It's a very old kind of simplicity: son is built to go round and round.

On the dance floor

Slow and swaying: this is son, not fast salsa. It's a lovely song for a relaxed, Cuban-style basic with your weight low and plenty of time in every step.

The four-chord guitar line keeps coming back, so the song never builds to one big climax. Keep it intimate, in close hold, with small turns.

Listen for the tres and the guitars answering the voices, with the bongó soft underneath.

This is our own retelling of the song, not its lyrics or a translation of them: the few short phrases quoted are there to explain what they mean. The song belongs to its writer, Compay Segundo.