Editing Sonora Matancera (section)

===The 1930s===
[[Son (music)|Son ensembles]] of this time added pianos to broaden their [[Counterpoint|contrapuntal]] and [[Harmony|harmonic]] vocabulary. Trumpets, sometimes as many as three, replaced cornets. The additional instruments meant sextetos and septetos evolved into [[conjunto]]s.  Septeto Soprano added a piano during this decade but did not expand its brass section until the 1940s.

Septeto Soprano made only one recording during this decade. It was for RCA-Victor.<ref name="fiul" />

Some of the individuals important to the group's success began their long association with the collective in the 1930s. In 1932, Rogelio Martínez was appointed co-director.<ref name="fiul" /> He was influential in determining the destiny of the conjunto. Juan Bautista Llopis returned for a brief period, and a new percussionist, ''José "Manteca" Rosario Chávez'', became a member.<ref name="fiul" /><ref name="marina" /> Three more sources say that Manteca joined in 1929<ref name="autogenerated1994"/><ref name="1952-1958"/><ref>''Ledón Sánchez, Armando''. ''La música popular en Cuba''. Ediciones El Gato Tuerto. Una colección de InteliBooks Publishers. Oakland, Ca. Capítulo IV, El son y la guaracha, página 83. 2003.</ref> while one other source states that this happened in 1935. Manteca filled the vacancy created when Jimagua left.

The collective changed its name to ''Estudiantina Sonora Matancera'' in the early 1930s.<ref name="fiul" /> Each change in the group's name was indicative of a change in instrumentation and its corresponding stylistic change.

In 1935, vocalist Manolo Barquín occasionally sang with the group.<ref name="fiul" /> That year it adopted its formal name, Conjunto Sonora Matancera.<ref name="fiul" /> [[Calixto Leicea]] and Humberto Cané (son of Valentín Cané) became members in this year.<ref name="marina" /><ref name="1952-1958"/> Another source claims Humberto Cané joined in 1929.<ref name="autogenerated1994"/>

Calixto Leicea replaced Ismael Goberna, who retired because of poor health and died a few months later.<ref name="marina" /> By then, Calixto had played and made his name with Sexteto Nacional (led by Ignacio Piñeiro), Chaveo y Su Grupo, Juventud Habanera, Sexteto Guarina, and [[María Teresa Vera]].<ref name="autogenerated4">Corredor, Humberto. Liner notes to Sonora Matancera, ''Se formó la rumbantela''. Recorded most probably in Cuba apparently in 1950. Stinson Records, Volume II, Collector's Series, Grabaciones Mundiales C. A. 200–3018.</ref> As was common with musicians of his generation throughout Latin America, he had been a member of a government-sponsored municipal band, ''La Banda Municipal de Matanzas'' (prior to embarking on a career as a professional musician), getting a firm musical education in the process. Calixto Leicea was an excellent songwriter and [[Arrangement (music)|arranger]].<ref name="autogenerated4"/> The band recorded many of his compositions as well as arrangements.<ref name="autogenerated4"/> The collective's theme song "Traigo un tono" is a [[guaracha]] composed in 1947 by Calixto.<ref name="autogenerated4"/>

Humberto Cané succeeded his father on tres and, as well, sang.<ref name="fiul" /> Valentín Cané, having ceded to his eldest son the tres chair, remained a valuable member of the collective, as he still sang, composed and — in a new role — played tumbadora.<ref name="fiul" /> The departure of Humberto Cané in 1944<ref name="fiul" /> signaled the end of the tres as part of the permanent instrumentation of the group.

[[Dámaso Pérez Prado]] (later, in the 1950s, famous as ''El Rey del Mambo'') was the band's first pianist and one of its earliest arrangers from 1936 to 1939.<ref name="fiul" /> ''Severino "Refresquito" Ramos'' was the primary arranger, as well as pianist, from 1939 (but especially since 1942) to 1944<ref name="fiul" /> and, as such, principal architect of the sonic identity of this conjunto. After 1944, he limited himself to arranging and composing.<ref name="fiul" />

In this decade, La Sonora Matancera faced strong competition from such ensembles as Sexteto Guarina, Juventud Habanera de [[Joseíto Fernández]], Sexteto Nacional de Ignacio Piñeiro, Sexteto Segundo Nacional, [[Trío Matamoros]], Sexteto Casino (it would later become a conjunto), Sexteto [[María Teresa Vera]], Conjunto Kubavana, Belisario López, and Orquesta Antonio María Romeu.<ref name="autogenerated1975"/> There was a rivalry between Sexteto Nacional de Ignacio Piñeiro and Sonora Matancera.<ref name="autogenerated1975"/>

The ensemble terminated its association with Radio Progreso by the end of the decade. In 1939, it was signed to a contract by the ownership/management of [[CMQ (Cuba)|Radio CMQ]] (or simply CMQ) for a series of live broadcasts.<ref name="Traigo"/>