Jeremías Martín & Group

Over the last several decades, the traditional music of the Canary Islands developed under the guidance of legendary groups such as Las Sabandenos, Los Gofiones and Mestisay. More recently, a new generation of artists working on a national level in Spain - like Kepa Junkera and Carlos Nunez - have invigorated their own regional traditions by exploring shared roots with Celtic and French traditions. In the Canary Islands, these trends have opened new frontiers, especially for instrumental music. This has played an important part in refreshing appreciation of the accordion, known locally as el forito. In fact, the accordion was a particularly popular instrument on all the islands of the archipelago at traditional house dances known as bailes de candil. In this vein, accordionist Jeremías Martín and his ensemble are part of the movement intended to heighten respect for the connection between musical roots and cultural identity. Jeremías's accordion tunes blend a rootsy Isleno style with many other influences to create a sound he refers to as nuevas aires. He is joined at the festival by Santiago Bobet Hernandez and Jose Mauricio Valencia Moreno on guitar, Siddartha Dorta Carrasco on percussion and Ivan Moreno Dominguez on electric bass.