Yerba Buena Gardens Festival’s 24th season kicks off with a sensational afternoon of Cuban soul. Pedrito Martinez arrived in New York City from Havana in 1998 just as the Buena Vista Social Club was reintroducing the world to the glories of mid-20th century Cuban music, reviving the careers of masters who came of age before the revolution. It wasn’t long before he came to embody the future of Cuban music in the 21st century. A master of Afro-Cuban folkloric music and the sacred batá drum, he’s also the world’s first-call rumbero with more than 100 albums to his credit. Sought out by the world’s greatest artists in jazz, Cuban music and far beyond, he’s collaborated with everyone from fellow Latin music visionaries Chucho Valdés, Paquito D’Rivera and Eddie Palmieri to pop stars Paul Simon, Sting, Bruce Springsteen, Dave Matthews, Elton John, and James Taylor. Martinez returns to the Gardens leading the latest version of his blazing band, which he introduced on his eponymous, Grammy-nominated album in 2013. The Pedrito Martinez Group has served as a launching pad for several brilliant young Cuban musicians, like his current pianist/keyboardist Ahmed Alom, a virtuosic powerhouse quickly gaining international renown.

Opening the program is La Dame Blanche, an explosive Paris-based Cuban combo led by singer, flautist and percussionist Yaite Ramos Rodriguez (daughter of trombonist Jesus “Aguaje” Ramos, the artistic director of the Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club). Steeped in the Afro-Cuban rituals and folklore, La Dame Blanche has honed a singular blend of hip-hop, cumbia, dancehall and reggae, all filtered through the sacred practices of Santería.