Cuban sonero and composer Ignacio Piñeiro founded Sexteto Nacional in 1927, as Columbia Records’ answer to RCA Victor’s popular Sexteto Habanero. Both groups added the trumpet, and so defined the classic septet sound. Today, third-generation descendants of Septeto Nacional continue to define Cuba’s consummate son tradition. Augmenting the septet’s sound and embellishing its classic repertoire are vocalists Pío Leyva, Caridad Cuervo and Bertha Portuondo