1997Released
4:16

Did You Know?

Interesting facts and trivia about Chan Chan. By Songfacts®.

This song contains lyrics in Spanish which tell the story of a couple - Chan Chan and Juanica - who are building a house and go to the beach to get some sand.

The group was named after a private club in Havana, Cuba that was a popular place for music in the 1940s. About 20 Cuban musicians were involved in the project along with American guitarist Ry Cooder.

Cuban bandleader Compay Segundo wrote this in 1987. He recorded it himself and it became a very popular song among Latin musicians. In an interview with PBS, Segundo said: "It's a number that has four notes, and four chords. There's very few numbers that you can sing the whole song with four notes. I've been to Santa Clara-Las Villas province and everybody up there knows it; I've been to Santiago de Cuba and everybody there knows it too. I go by a school and when a kid sees me, he says, 'Look, it's Compay Segundo,' and starts singing, 'I'm going from Alto Cedro to Marcane then from Cueto, I'm going to Mayari.'"

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Song Analysis

Key, BPM (tempo) and time signature of Chan Chan.
DKey
MinorMode
4/4Time Signature
166BPM

Album

The album Chan Chan is released on.

Released By

The record label that has released Chan Chan.
World Circuit
© 1997 World Circuit Limited, a BMG Company
℗ 1997 World Circuit Limited, a BMG Company

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