In the mid-1970s, nine engineering students at the University of Havana came together to form a new musical group, naming it Sierra Maestra after a mountain range in their native eastern Cuba. At the suggestion of the father of two of the brothers in the group, they began to play in the son style, the ancestor of salsa and lots of other dance music of the Caribbean. By 1980 they were a success all over Cuba, and ever since then, they've been a living link to the Golden Age of Cuban music. They've always mixed classic pieces with newly written material, and it's often been their new songs that have become their most popular. When members of the press ask Sierra Maestra, "What will happen in Cuba to traditional music when the old guys, the 'originals,' have all gone?" they have a ready answer: "It will continue."