For more than 80 years, Septeto Nacional Ignacio Piñeiro de Cuba has reigned as the world’s foremost performers — and preservationists — of Cuban son music.

But until 2009, the group had not performed in the United States in 76 years. For almost 50 of those years, that was due to the U.S. government’s embargo of Cuba. Cultural-exchange programs with Cuba have flourished again since Barack Obama became president, however, allowing Cuban artists to finally return to the U.S. to perform.

And many of those, like Septeto Nacional — as well as the Afro-Cuban All Stars, who performed at the Ann Arbor Summer Festival last year — have been making up for lost time. Septeto Nacional is again touring America, and the tour comes to Hill Auditorium on Thursday for a show presented by the University Musical Society.

In addition to its musical performances, the tour includes musical workshops at universities, where the group will interact with students and convey the importance of Cuba in the evolution of the Latin music that is so popular today. Due to their touring schedule, however, the group won’t be conducting such a program during its Ann Arbor stop, according to UMS.

The ensemble was founded in 1927 by Ignacio Piñeiro Martínez (1888-1969), the prolific Cuban bassist and composer known as “El Poeta del Son.” Over the years, many Cuban-music stars have rotated in and out of Septeto Nacional, like Abelardo Barroso, Miguelito Valdés, Bienvenido Granda and Carlos Embale.

Septeto (septet) refers to the number of musicians in the group — seven.

These days, Eugenio Rodríguez “Raspa” and Frank Oropesa “El Matador” are the inheritors of Piñero’s legacy as leaders of the group, helping to preserve the original acoustic sound, while also drawing on more modern harmonization and more varied groove patterns. The group’s repertoire includes the important Cuban hits, many of which were written by Piñeiro. It’s safe to say that no other Cuban band has so consistently carried Cuba’s musical traditions to other nations.

In ’09, in addition to its triumphant return to the U.S, the group also traveled to Puerto Rico for the first time ever, performing at The Conservatory of Music.

The Cuban son style is an undulating, intoxicating synergy of Spanish canción and guitar music with African rhythms and percussion. It has its roots in the rural communities of Cuba, where it was essentially the music of black slaves, and was later brought to urban centers by migrants in search of work in the cities. The style attained immense popularity right around the turn of the 20th century, and continued to be a “pop-music” style through the 1940’s.

Septeto Nacional performed throughout Havana and its music was a fixture on the city’s radio stations, as well as in public squares and theaters.

Septeto Nacional became so renowned that, in 1932, George Gershwin traveled to Cuba to hear their music, and became friends with Piñeiro, whose influence can be heard in Gershwin’s “Cuban Overture.” As the style continued to grow in popularity during that era, songs like “Esas no son Cubanas”, “Suavecito”, “No juegues con los santos”, and “El Guanajo Relleno”, in addition to “Échale Salsita”, could be heard in dance halls in Europe, as well as in the U.S. and Cuba, laying the musical groundwork for what would later become salsa music.

In 2004, Septeto Nacional Ignacio Piñeiro de Cuba’s “Poetas del Son” received a Grammy nomination in the “Traditional Tropical Music” category.

In 2010, the group — now with its fourth generation of players — released a new album, “Sin Rumba No Hay Son!” It’s a driving, polyrhythmic affair, with propulsive congas and bongos prodding the groove on almost every song. Singer Rodriguez delivers a uniquely Cuban performance, and the music still sounds fresh, as the group incorporates the various, percolating descendants of the style their musical forefathers had created, including mambo, cha cha cha, rumba Congolaise and Latin jazz.

In addition to Rodriguez and Oropesa (bongos), the current lineup also includes Dagoberto Sacerio Oliva (guitar / vocals), Agustin Someillan Garcia (trumpet / vocals), Raul Acea Rivera (bass), Enrique Collazo (tres) and Crispin Diaz Hernandez (maracas / vocals).

In an interview with Ritmo Bello, a San Diego-based website devoted to Latin music and dance, Oropesa described the difference between modern salsa music and Cuban son:

“First, the son is played with acoustic instruments,” said Oropesa. “Some of the early instruments are no longer used as frequently, such as the Marímbula (which is used as a bass and is constructed of several metal strips attached to a box) and the Botija (which is a jug, similar to those used in the Southern African-American jug-brand tradition).

“The son played by Septeto Nacional is special,” he continued. “Ignacio Piñeiro’s unique arrangements and compositions are infused with many of the African-derived music traditions found in Cuba, such as Rumba (the Rumba complex includes: Guanguancó, Yambú and Colombia) and Abakuá. He created and enriched his music with all these elements.”

Kevin Ransom, a free-lance writer who covers music for AnnArbor.com, can be reached at KevinRansom10@aol.com.