Growing up in the Cuban neighborhood of Cayo Hueso among musicians from the African diaspora, Pedrito Martinez soaked up rhythms and melodies that would become his deepest creative inspiration.
Martinez, a Santería priest as well as a Grammy Award-nominated percussionist, singer and songwriter, is a longtime practitioner of the Yoruba religion, which comes from West Africa and urges its followers to treat their ancestors with awe and respect.
That devotion played a central role in Echoes of Africa, which he will perform June 7 at Spoleto Festival USA.
“I put Echoes of Africa together to keep the legacy of my ancestors alive,” said Martinez, who last played Spoleto’s Cistern Yard in 2017. “I want people to know that this is not just a myth. This is a beautiful culture that has survived for many years. It’s one of my missions to keep the Afro-Cuban legacy going.”
Martinez draws inspiration from Cuban rumba, a secular genre that involves dancing and singing but also jazz and various genres from Africa, including West African Yoruba music. And while he has accompanied everyone from Wynton Marsalis to Bruce Springsteen to Sting, he said African roots are always at the center.
The Pedrito Martinez Group performed recently in Tunisia. It was band member Sebastian Natal’s first time in Africa, but he said he has long understood the significance and impact that African music has had on the group.
“The root of the Pedrito Martinez Group is coming from Africa,” said Natal, an Uruguayan vocalist and bass player. “It’s the source.” (Other members of the group hail from Panama and Venezuela.)
Energizing the crowds at the Cistern
That previous Spoleto appearance quickly had the Cistern Yard audience out of their seats, and Martinez looks to repeat this with Echoes of Africa, this time with an expanded band as well as dancers. “The energy was unforgettable in 2017,” he said. “I’ve been wanting to come back to the beautiful festival. In my opinion, Spoleto is one of the greatest festivals in the United States.”
No matter where the group plays, Martinez in particular feeds off the audience’s energy. The majority of the band’s live performances include improvised lyrics, instrumentals and vocals. Martinez has been known to incorporate an impromptu lyric about someone he has noticed in the front row, and this spontaneity means Natal and the other three members in the group need to adapt on the spot to keep up with him.
“The Pedrito Martinez Group is totally different live than the studio version you listen to on your computer or phone,” Natal said. “The album has our passion and love, but live has the feeling of the people that you can’t create in the studio. A song that’s three or four minutes on the album can turn into 15, 20 minutes live because we are doing so many different surprises and changes.”
In addition, Martinez said he offers his band members the freedom to improvise. “I always want to make sure they feel good,” he said. “There’s no rules. If you feel like doing something, just do it.”
For Spoleto, Martinez said he wants to open this freedom to the audience, and there is a distinct possibility that some of them may find their way onto the Cistern stage.
“I want people to feel like they are at home at my show,” he said. “I want people to feel confident, dancing and having a good time. I want people to remember my concerts as one of the best shows they’ve attended in their life.”
Pedrito Martinez: Echoes of Africa performance at the College of Charleston Cistern Yard is on June 7 at 9 p.m.
Sarah Merke is a magazine, news and digital journalism graduate student at Syracuse University.
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