SEPTETO NACIONAL - Ignacio Pireiro				Utskriftsvennlig versjon
The history of the Septeto Nacional is closely associated with one musician, who, were there a Pope for Cuban son, would long since have been canonised - Ignacio Piñeiro, an excellent sonero, singer and composer Piñeiro lived in Pueblo Nuevo, the black quarter of the city. Even as a child, Ignacio Piñeiro sang in choirs and played drums with the Afro-Cuban cabildos Then he formed his own first line-up, Los Roncos, the Hoarse Ones, for which he composed choir music. In 1926 he played bass with the Sexteto Occidente, whose leader was Maria Teresa Vera.
	Piñeiro travelled to New York with this sextet and on his return to Havana he immediately set about making history with son: in 1927, together with the troubadours Juan Ignacio de la Cruz Hermida, Bienvenido León Chacón and Alberto Villalon, who until then had performed as a trio, plus the tres player Francisco González and José Manuel Incharta on bongos, he founded the Sexteto Nacional - under contract to Colombia Records in Havana, who had been eagerly searching for a band capable of competing with the Sexteto Habanero, who were under contact to RCA Victor.   In 1932 George Gershwin travelled to Cuba and happened to turn on the CMCJ radio station when the Septeto Nacional were playing Piñeiro`s sones. Gershwin visited Piñeiro and the two men became friends. Gershwin studied Piñeiro’s sones and even cited "Échale salsita" in his own "Cuban Overture"
But other Septeto Nacional hits had also become part of the classic repertoire of nostalgic son line-ups and modern salsa bands: for example "No jueges con los Santos", "There`s no playing with the Gods", a half-joking, half-earnest warning about respecting the Afro-Cuban gods, an early musical demonstration of black consciousness. In the late 1920s, Havana`s dance enthusiasts witnessed a musical sparring match for which there is no comparison in the history of Cuban music. ROOTS Booking - Rune Myhren - Phone +47  900 33057 – e-mail: rmyhren@rootsbooking.com