Cuban percussionist, bandleader, and songwriter Pedrito Martinez may be the happiest person making music. His megawatt smile alone could light up the Empire State Building. His infectious rhythms are “full of twists and turns and unexpected stops…it's hard to resist moving your entire body in appreciation” (NPR Music).

Drawn to the rumba beats in his childhood Havana, Martinez became the world’s first-call rumbero – playing, singing, and dancing with dozens of Cuban rumba groups. A co-founder of Yerba Buena and leader of the Grammy-nominated Pedrito Martinez Group, he’s collaborated with legends like Wynton Marsalis, Bruce Springsteen, and Eric Clapton.

The conga and batá drum master is “as close as traditional Afro-Cuban music has to a superstar” (NYT). Don’t miss a beat of the Pedrito Martinez Group.