Septeto Nacional or the Septeto Nacional de Ignacio Piñeiro

Ignacio Piñeiro

Ignacio Piñeiro Martínez was a black Cuban musician and composer whose career started in rumba, and flowered in the rise of the son. He was one of the most important composers of son music; in total he wrote about 327 numbers, mostly sones.Piñeiro was a brilliant rumbero who worked with musical...

, is a group credited with expanding the Son

Son (music)

The Son cubano is a style of music that originated in Cuba and gained worldwide popularity in the 1930s. Son combines the structure and elements of Spanish canción and the Spanish guitar with African rhythms and percussion instruments of Bantu and Arará origin...

 musical style before Arsenio Rodríguez

Arsenio Rodríguez

Arsenio Rodríguez was a Cuban musician who played the tres , reorganized the conjunto and developed the son montuno, and other Afro-Cuban rhythms in the 1940s and 50s...

. It added the trumpet

Trumpet

The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...

 to percussion, vocals, and strings

String instrument

A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...

. The group started as a sextet in 1927 in Central Havana

Havana

Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...

. In 1929 it played at the World Exposition in Sevilla, and in 1933, it was invited to the "Century of Progress

Century of Progress

A Century of Progress International Exposition was the name of a World's Fair held in Chicago from 1933 to 1934 to celebrate the city's centennial. The theme of the fair was technological innovation...

" World Exposition in Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

. In the same year, Lázaro Herrera took over the group when Ignacio Piñeiro left it for financial reasons - despite their success the musicians earned very little. The group disbanded in 1937 but resumed playing for a recording session in 1940 and a television appearance in 1954. After the Cuban revolution

Cuban Revolution

The Cuban Revolution was an armed revolt by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement against the regime of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista between 1953 and 1959. Batista was finally ousted on 1 January 1959, and was replaced by a revolutionary government led by Castro...

 of 1959, the group played again and is still playing. Its CD Poetas del Son was nominated for a grammy in 2004.

Discography

• Sin Rumba No Hay Son (2010)
• Desafiando al Destino
• Poetas del Son
• Clásicos del Son
• Mas Cuba Libres
• Havana Mood
• Hecho en Cuba
• Son Soneando
• Imperdonables
• 50 Aniversario
• El Son De Altura
• Entre Preciosas Palmeras
• Imperdonable
• Lejana Campiña
• Más Cuba Libres
• Son de la Loma
• Soneros De Cuba