MADRID, Spain.- One of the most important exponents of the Cuban son, Ignacio Piñeiro, passed away on a day like today, but in 1969, at the age of 81.
Piñeiro, born in Havana on May 21, 1888, would leave compositions such as “Échale salsita”, “Suavecito”, “Mayeya, don’t play with the saints”, “Don lengua”, “Las cuatro palomas” and “Where were you last night?”
During his musical career he wrote 327 numbers, most of them sones or rumbas.
In his long musical career, he has founded the Septeto Nacional orchestra; but before that he was a member of popular groups from the first decades of the 20th century in Cuba such as Los Roncos and Timbre de Oro. Maria Theresa Vera.
Together with the “great lady of the Cuban trova” he traveled to New York. It was upon his return from the American city, in 1927, that he founded the Sexteto Nacional (became a septet the following year, with the novel addition of the trumpet), whose name was due to the fact that it brought together musicians from all over the country. The fame of the group, which mainly interpreted compositions by Piñeiro, was not long in coming.
The National Sextet was made up of Juan de la Cruz Iznaga, first voice and key; Welcome León, second voice and maraca; Francisco González Solares (“Panchito Chevrolet”) in three; José Manuel Inciarte “El Chino”, in the bongos; Alberto Villalón on guitar; and Piñeiro himself who, in addition to directing it, played the double bass.
In 1929, already converted into a septet, they traveled to Seville, Spain, to participate in the Ibero-American Exhibition. They were in the European country for about three months, during which time they made recordings and several presentations.
In 1935 Piñeiro, known as “the poet of son” or “the father of son habanero”, left the septet. Twenty years later he returned to direct it, and remained in charge of the group until his death.
Since 1978 and up to the present, the “Ignacio Piñeiro” Traditional Music Promotion Center exists in Cuba, which aims to preserve and promote the popular music of the country.
