Formed in Havana, the nine-piece Sierra Maestra ranks among the leading ensembles devoted to Cuban son, the style that reached its commercial zenith during the 1920s and 1930s. Although the late-1990s Buena Vista Social Club revival later restored widespread global attention to the genre, the band had already reinvigorated son by the final years of the 1970s. Led by Juan d'Marcos González, the musicians first assembled in 1976 to perform at the University of Havana, where they had all studied. They adopted their name from the mountain range widely regarded as son’s birthplace and employed an expanded palette of instruments—tres, guitar, bongo, guiro, trumpet, and voice augmented by congas, maracas, and electric bass. The lineup comprised Daniel Ramos Alayo on trumpet, Carlos González on bongo, Carlos Pisseaux on guiro, Alberto Valdés handling maracas and vocals, Luis Bárgaza on voice, José Antonio Rodríguez on guitar and voice, Eduardo Himely on bass and conga, and Alejandro Suárez on clave and voice. Steady live work and frequent television slots quickly turned Sierra Maestra into a national favorite, securing domestic honors within their initial three years. Their first album, Sierra Maestra Llegó con el Guanajo Relleno, attained silver certification upon its 1981 release. Strong reviews and broad popularity then enabled European touring in the early 1980s; after issuing the follow-up Y Son Así in 1982, the group appeared at major festivals across Sweden, France, Germany, and Spain. From the 1994 album Dundunbanza! onward, their catalog reached listeners worldwide, expanding to more than a dozen titles by the time Son: Soul of a Nation appeared in 2006. By faithfully revisiting the songbook of figures such as Arsenio Rodríguez while also showcasing original material, the musicians earned recognition as both devoted stewards of tradition and inventive stylists.
