If you are a truly keen observer, following Cuba's rich trove of wonderful music can sometimes resemble viewing wildlife in a dense tropical forest. Each time you look, you might see something vital that you didn't notice before. There are occasions when groups and artists were hiding in plain sight for years before finding their way into a studio. The history of the Familia Valera Miranda is one of those occasions. Although family members have been quite active since the 1800s in the rural Oriente province, and later in Santiago de Cuba and Guantanamo, it wasn't until 1982, thanks to the research of musicologist Danilo Orozco and his important work Antología Integral del Son, that they released their first recordings as a family, later followed by many additional recordings and international fame. Today they are properly acknowledged as one of Cuba's most distinguished families that defend the Son cubano. In 2019, the importance of the musical influence of immigrants from the Canary Islands in the development of the Son and campesino music (mixed with roots from Africa) was recognized during Cubadisco, and those influences inform the melodies of the Familia Valera Miranda. | 
