Today we’d like to introduce you to Antonio Garza.
Antonio, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Started in November 2001 as a 10-piece band playing at Elvia’s Night Club. We later started the famous Skybar Salsa Thursdays and played there until Skybar closed. If you ever went to Skybar on a Thursday you saw us. We now are a 12-piece group and play steadily at Club Tropicana and Fox Hollow (you can find our calendar at salmerum.com). We have accompanied many of the great salsa artists when they come to Houston (Tito Rojas, La India, Frankie Negron, Jerry Rivera and Fania All-Stars like Larry Harlow) and the musicians themselves have toured with the likes of Celia Cruz, Juan Luis Guerra, Gilberto Santa Rosa and the Buena Vista Social Club to name a few.
Getting there took time. As we accompanied more and more artists the group got better and gained more repertoire while doing it. Our first set of singers were my wife Valentina Garza (born in Venezuela), and my roommate from Notre Dame, Ian Hernandez (a Houston native). But then life changes began and we had to adjust and change lead singers. What has remained consistent throughout is the music. We try to play nothing but hits. With close to 60 years of salsa, there are so many artists with great music to pick from.
Has it been a smooth road?
Definitely, there have been ups and downs. Sometimes things go smoothly, however, at times, people are going through life changes, getting married, having kids, going to college, etc. and you have to work around these things and keep the ball rolling. Also, it is difficult for a group our size to find consistent steady work. Nowadays, live music is a little tougher to sustain with all the options people have in town. When we first started there were only a small handful of Latin music venues.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the La Orquesta Salmerum story. Tell us more about the business.
The group prides itself on its classic sound played with authentic instrumentation and without computer enhancement or sequences. Most recently they had the pleasure of playing for the World Champion Houston Astros at the Carlos Beltran Foundation gala which provides scholarships to disadvantaged youth. We are also one of the longest-running local bands in Houston from any genre playing steadily since 2001.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
The industry has definitely changed since our inception. For one, there have been quite a few years without an FM Tropical music station. One recently crept into your radio choices this year. But what remained were Reggaeton and Bachata. So while reggaeton was not something we really wanted to add to our dance music repertoire we certainly began to add more bachata. This was the only thing folks could hear on the radio anymore. Merengue lost popularity at around the same time that bachata came up. Definitely seeing a trend in Latino youth migrating away from tropical music and more into hip-hop/rap and reggaeton.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.salmerum.com
- Phone: 832-452-8696
- Email: salmerum@gmail.com
- Instagram: @salmerum
- Facebook: facebook.com/salmerum
- Twitter: @salmerum
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