Adalberto Álvarez Will Be Honored on Son Day

May 6, 2022

The event organizers assured that the celebration day will be dedicated to musician Ignacio Piñeiro, considered a versatile interpreter of the genre and its most diverse styles.

The event continues the work initiated by Álvarez in 2021 and the promise of evoking the legacy of the composer of the emblematic song Échale salsita (1930) as 95 years are fulfilled since the Septeto Nacional was founded by him.

The festival celebrates the 90th anniversary of the Anacaona orchestra, the first all-female group that championed son as a sextet format in its debut on a radio station located at the Teatro Payret, on February 19, 1932.

The date will host various activities in the Cuban capital, among which stands out a great concert at Club 500 starring Isacc Delgado, the Orquesta Aragón, Elito Revé and Maikel Blanco and his Salsa Mayor, among other renowned Cuban groups and artists.

The Teatro América in Havana will offer a special show dedicated to Piñeiro and Álvarez, and adhering to the most traditional aspects of that musical expression that is part of Cuban identity and musical heritage.

According to Carlos Estrada, director of Communication and Programming at the Cuban Institute of Music, in addition to institutional initiatives, artists are undertaking individual projects that extend throughout all provinces.

Estrada praised the festivals dedicated to the genre in Santiago de Cuba and Ciego de Ávila, where the Festival Matamoros Son and Al Son del Gallo Pío Leyva in memoriam will convene coinciding with the celebration day, respectively.

Focused on the virtual universe due to Covid-19, the first edition of Cuban Son Day was celebrated in 2021, established on the occasion of the birth dates of two greats of island music: Miguel Matamoros and Miguelito Cuní.

Its greatest champion was, precisely, maestro Adalberto Álvarez, one of its most exalted exponents and who on more than one occasion stated that it was his inseparable companion and essential part of his life, like the blood that ran through his veins.

"Son is born from the roots of the people. It walks with me and in the work of so many renowned composers and interpreters. We must continue cultivating it with the best energy," he concluded.