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Live Tonight on Millennium Stage: “Pedrito Martinez…is a source of rhythmic delight and inspiration…an incomparable performer…a traditional Afro-Cuban music superstar” —The New York Times
Pedro Pablo “Pedrito” Martinez was born in Havana, Cuba on Sept 12, 1973, in the Cayo Hueso neighborhood where rumba is played all day long. He began his musical career at the age of 11, with a foundation in the rumba and Afro-Cuban Yoruba traditions.
Since settling in New York City in the fall of 1998, Martinez has recorded or performed with Paul Simon, Wynton Marsalis, Paquito D’Rivera, Bruce Springsteen, Ruben Blades, Eddie Palmieri, Dave Matthews, and Sting. He has also contributed to well over 100 albums.
A consummate master of Afro-Cuban folkloric music and the batá drum, he is also the world’s first-call rumbero—playing, singing, and dancing with dozens of Cuban rumba groups.
Martinez was a founding member of the highly successful Afro-Cuban/Afro-Beat band Yerba Buena. With the band, he recorded two albums and toured the world in the mid-to-late 90s.
Martinez’s career as a leader began in 2005 in New York City with the formation of The Pedrito Martinez Group. He has recorded four solo albums, the first one of which was nominated for a Grammy® in 2013. The album was additionally chosen among NPR’s Favorite Albums for 2013 and among The Boston Globe Critics’ Top Ten Albums of the same year.
