The Ignacio Piñeiro National Septet Meeting has been held in Havana since 1995. It is sponsored by the Ignacio Piñeiro Music Institution. Each year, it brings together groups, researchers, journalists, and musicologists with the goal of contributing to the dissemination and preservation of this instrumental format, thus providing a space that fosters its conservation and development.

The septet is an instrumental format that originated in Havana at the beginning of the 20th century, around 1920. Ignacio Piñeiro is a significant figure in the history of Cuban music, one of the most prolific creators of popular and folk music, author of renowned rumbas, claves, and sones. Together with his septet, he made an important contribution to Cuban and world music.

Hence the name of the event, which honors the memory of this great Cuban musician. The gathering also commemorates the musicians who contributed to the development of music based on this format.

These events feature artistic presentations by musical groups from all over Cuba, a scientific convention, and a tresero competition. The 9th Ignacio Piñeiro National Septet Meeting paid tribute to the 80th anniversary of the creation of the Septeto Típico de Sones (Typical Septet of Sones), a group that excelled on stage. Groups from almost every Cuban province performed, including Septeto Habanero, Los Naranjos (Cienfuegos), Mongo Rive y su Tumbita Criolla (Isla de la Juventud), and others. This occasion featured a diverse presence of this type of group and its related formats.

During the 5th Ignacio Piñeiro in Memoriam Colloquium, held at the National Museum of Music (Obrapía No. 512, Old Havana, Havana), a tribute was paid to the Septeto Típico de Sones through a presentation by Professor Roberto Oropesa. Other papers presented included: La estudiantina y los estudianteros (The Student Band and the Student Bands), by Santiago de Cuba musicologist Maritza Puig; Radamés Giro’s work on the contributions of Ignacio Piñeiro; and Aquel tresero del Septeto (That Tresero of the Septet), by Jorge Petineud, about Andrés Echavarría (El Niño Rivera), among others.

The 12th edition, held in 2007, featured performances by important Santiago de Cuba son orchestras, including Moneda Nacional, Perlas del Son, Son Diamante, and Santiaguero. This year, the event was dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the Septeto Nacional Ignacio Piñeiro. The event took place at the Caribbean Association of Cuba (41st and 88th Streets, Marianao), the Cultural Center on 10 de Octubre Street, the gardens of the Cuban Music Institute (452 ​​15th Street and F Street, Vedado, Plaza de la Revolución, Havana), the House of Friendship (Paseo between 17th and 19th Streets, Vedado, Plaza de la Revolución, Havana), and the Salón Rosado Benny Moré de La Tropical (41st and 42nd Streets, Playa, Havana), the Center for Research and Development of Cuban Music.

Eleven presentations were analyzed, including “Ignacio Piñeiro, the Grandfather of Salsa,” by Raúl Fernández, a Cuban researcher based in the United States, and “Son in Cuban Radio,” by Manuel Villar. Musicologist Ana Casanova gave the lecture “The Tres in Cuban Popular and Traditional Music.”

More than 20 groups participated in the 13th National Septet Meeting. The event was dedicated to Ignacio Piñeiro, on the 120th anniversary of his birth. The theoretical event featured three presentations and five keynote addresses, delivered by Cuban specialists, historians, and journalists such as Rafael Lam, Liliana Casanella, Neris González, and Lino Betancourt.

The 14th Ignacio Piñeiro National Septet Meeting in 2009 paid tribute to Miguel Matamoros and the Septeto Típico de Sones. The 10th Ignacio Piñeiro in Memoriam Symposium, held at the Casa de la Cultura de Plaza (Calzada No. 909, Vedado, Plaza de la Revolución, Havana), opened with the lecture “Miguel Matamoros or the Plenitude of Son” by musicographer José Reyes Fortín, who also presented the documentary “La leyenda del Son” by director Carlos Alberto García.

In 2010, the 15th meeting was dedicated to the ninetieth anniversary of the Septeto Habanero. The discussions that took place addressed the contributions of this type of instrumental format to national culture. Participants included Septeto Moneda Nacional, Septeto Habanero, Tumbao (Villa Clara), Septeto Oyaré (Holguín), Son del Barrio (Las Tunas), Moneda Nacional (Santiago de Cuba), and Son del Nene (Villa Clara).

At the symposium, held at the Museum of Decorative Arts (17th Street, corner of E, Vedado, Plaza de la Revolución, Havana), prominent researchers and specialists participated in the analysis of topics such as the sirivinga (the son from the Sancti Spiritus region). Other studies presented addressed figures in Cuban music such as Pancho Amat, Andrés Echevarría, and Rafael Ortiz.