For the third year in a row, the musicians from the Ignacio Piñeiro Nacional Septet conquered the U.S. public and critic. The legendary band returns to Cuba after performing in the Mesa Arts Center and the Centennial Hall, in Tucson, Arizona; in the Campbell Hall, in Santa Barbara, in the Conga Room, in Los Angeles and in the Carriage House, Saratoga, in California; in the Kranert Center, Urbana, in Illinois; in the Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, in Michigan; in the Gartner Auditorium, in Cleveland, Ohio; in the Old Town School of Music; in Chicago; in the Virginia Arts, Norfolk, in Virginia; in the Baptist Temple, Philadelphia, in Pennsylvania; in the State Theater, Ithaca, in the Carnegie Hall, New York and in the Savings Bank Music Hall, Troy, all of them in New York.

“There is no old dust on the National Septet. Their Cuban Son, their rumbas and their boleros are a transparent music, with a strength in its tension and a phantasmal force. The lyrics of Piñeiro´s themes are unforgettable: sadness over lost loves and Cuban celebrations, the dance and the enjoyment of the rhythm” wrote The New York Times about them. This newspaper classifies them as “salsa inventors” while The Boston Globe classified them as a “national treasure”.

The tour began by the end of March and ended on April 17. Frank “El Matador” Oropesa, bongo player and administrator of the band, said about it: “Son is taste, rhythm and melody that reach the heart. We are very happu with the tour,” while his brother and agent of the Septet, Ricardo Roberto Oropesa, declared: “we will continue to represent the most authentic aspects of our music, rumba and the son by Ignacio Piñeiro, which is to say Cuba with modesty and sincerity.”

All of the concerts were “amazing”, kept saying, through e-mail, Roberto Oropesa, but there were two which went beyond our expectations. The one that took place in Carnegie Hall in New York and that in Conga Room in Los Angeles. This one is a world famous night club. It is found in La Live, in the heart of Los Angeles nightlife, next to Staples Center and Nokia Theater. Since it was opened in 2008, it became the center of the parties of the musical industry and high profile events such as those of ESPYS, People’s Choice Awards and the American Music Awards. There have performed music super stars such as Gypsy Kings, Alejandro Fernández, Black Eyed Peas and Prince, among others.

The band is currently made up by Eugenio "Raspa" Rodríguez, director and first voice; "El Matador" Oropesa and Crispín Díaz Hernández, playing the percussion; Enrique Collazo, in the tres; Dagoberto Sacerio Oliva, playing the guitar; Agustín Someillán García, playing the trumpet and Raúl Acea Rivera, playing the counter-bass.

The music of the National Septet, is still as vibrating as it was 84 years ago. According to “El Matador”, that is due to the legacy left by Ignacio Piñeiro: the “son poet”, creator of genres such as guajira son and guaguancó and the author of more than 400 themes.

The National Septet took place in 1927 when the bass player and singer Ignacio Piñeiro brought together a septet who mixed son, a music style taken to Havana by the workers who migrated from the rural areas, with the rumba and the guaguancó from the mainly black neighborhoods of the Cuban capital. He included the trumpet to it as an important voice that added condiment to the traditional sound and gave it tumbao. The new hybrid style was called the Havana Son, and it conquered Cuba.

When Piñeiro composed his song Échale salsita in 1937, he could never imagine, he was creating the expression that would give birth to salsa music half a century later. Some years later, the U.S. musician George Gershin incorporated Échale salsita to his Cuban Overture.

During the tour, the Ignacio Piñeiro National Septet promoted their album ¡Sin rumba no hay son!, edited by World Village/ Armonía Muni.

Translation: Karen López (Cubarte)

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