Cuba's leading son group SIERRA MAESTRA return in 2006 promoting their new album " SON - soul of a nation", their heart-felt tribute to son music, and are now celebrating the 30th year since their formation

After playing a key part in the recent worldwide boom in Cuban traditional music the group released their new album to celebrate the glorious heritage of son music in Cuba, and push the sounds of son to a new place. There are new songs, new guests and a renewed vitality.

Sierra Maestra have been stars of Cuban music ever since the late 1970s. They were the first group, and remain the best, of the modern era to play in the old-style son line-up: tres, guitar, trumpet, bongo, güiro and vocals - as during the great days of the 1920s and '30s. They have been the pioneers in reviving this style for new generations and reintroducing it into the Cuban mainstream. They named themselves after the mountain range in the eastern part of Cuba as a tribute to the birthplace of son.

The group have played a significant part in the recent global explosion in popularity of Cuban music. Ex-leader Juan De Marcos González created the Afro-Cuban All Stars and Buena Vista Social Club while still with the band, and Jesus Alemany, previously trumpet with Sierra Maestra for 15 years, left to create his group Cubanismo. Yet the new tres, percussion and trumpet players, and now a new singer have joined the five original members to make the group line-up perhaps the strongest ever.

Sierra Maestra have recorded 15 albums and over 10 singles and appear on at least 50 compilations.