Photo: Photo: María Angela Batiz / Courtesy
Juan Ortega did not like the music in Spanish that his parents listened to all the time.
The strange thing was that at quinceañeras, parties and family gatherings, she danced and sang those happy songs of life.
“Well, I didn’t know I liked it, but when I started getting into [a cantar] I knew all the songs”, said Juan about how he discovered his love for songs in Spanish. “Now I listen to everything my parents listen to: Hombres G, Luis Miguel, Maná.”
Juan is the founder and vocalist of Los Aptos, a band that mixes Sierra music with pop, indie, and other trendy rhythms, and that was born in a city that the vast majority of Americans have never heard of: Fort Wayne, in the state of Indiana.
Actually, it was the group T3R Elemento that inspired Juan to sing in Spanish. This group originally from Los Angeles, a phenomenon of the corrido and the sierreño style, gained millions of followers with the performances it uploaded to social networks. John thought, “I can do that too.”
And so, despite growing up with English as his primary language, and heavily influenced by Anglo pop thanks to his cousins who adored artists like the Jonas Brothers and Justin Bieber, Juan began to sing in Spanish and climb first. covers and later original themes to his social networks, where he gained thousands of followers; but before he learned to play the guitar with Youtube tutorials.
“I started watching videos in my room and I learned the songs, until I started making my own songs,” said the artist, who is 20 years old.
He knew he wanted to be a singer since he went on vacation to Monterrey, Mexico, where his parents are from, and enjoyed family gatherings eating roast beef and singing along with guitars.
Now, Los Aptos is promoting their album, “Descifrar”, an album with 11 tracks featuring artists such as DannyLux, Cuco and Conexión Divina. This production, said the vocalist, finally presents the sound that he wanted the band to have.
“It has influences from the Sierra, but with elements of everything, pop, indie, American, because we are boys who grew up in the United States, but with roots in Mexico,” he points out.
These guys have a pretty hectic schedule ahead of them. This weekend they will play first at SOB’s in New York and then in Los Angeles, where they headline the Viva Pomona festival, which will take place over the weekend. In August they will be at the no less important Lollapalooza in Chicago and in September they will travel to Mexico City to perform at the Arre HSBC Festival, the first for traditional Mexican music.
In detail
That: Los Aptos at the Viva Pomona Festival
Where: The Glass House 200 W. 2nd St., Pomona
When: Saturday from 4 pm
As: tickets $30-$35
Reports: theglasshouse.us