North America

Pablo Antonio Y La Firma has been one of the few groups from the Washington DC, Maryland, and Virginia area that we have had the opportunity to speak with, which is why we are thrilled to have the chance to do so.

We got in touch with its founder and vocalist, Pablo Antonio, who shared some fascinating details about the group that bears his name and his artistic career in the capital of the United States.

Pablo’s Early Days in Music 

Pablo recalls that he was a big fan of music from a very young age, to the point where he used any object as an instrument to make sounds and sing in his native El Salvador. When he arrived in the United States in 1981 at the age of nine, his family was already well-established there, and his uncles had a band that invited him to sing with them from time to time.

His passion for music kept growing everyday until eventually he began joining various musicians and experimenting with different genres. At the same time, he became an adult and began studying literature at George Mason University in Fairfax, a period in which his professional curiosity about music continued to grow. He do not have  a strong academic preparation in that field, except for a few voice and piano classes—as he was not as interested in studying music as he was in practicing it.

Then, in 1998, Pablo and some friends in the industry came up with the idea of creating a group, which they named Pablo Antonio Y La Firma. Today, he is the sole founder of the orchestra and one of its three lead vocalists.

Professional Path Before Pablo Antonio Y La Firma 

To earn the privilege of directing his own project, he had to play in other groups that gave him the experience necessary to lead his own. One of them, as previously mentioned, was Grupo Explosión—his uncles’ band. However, it was not long before a teenage Pablo sought out other opportunities such as La Superbanda Unión, Grupo Cobra, and Telvis Y Su Grupo Fuego, the latter being the project he stayed the longest.

After meeting so many musicians throughout his career up to that point, he reached out to several of them to found Pablo Antonio Y La Firma.

The Official Beginning of Pablo Antonio Y La Firma 

Going back to 1998, Pablo Antonio and a good portion of the co-founders were still part of Telvis Y Su Grupo Fuego, but they wanted to create something different that offered more creative freedom. The musicians felt stuck playing the same venues and doing the same routine, eventually growing bored of doing the exact same events and playing the same style of music.

This led Pablo, percussionist Dominic Patrick Noel, and bassist Hermes Argueta to launch this new project. The following year, in 1999, they began performing live.

The Orchestra’s Evolution to the Present Day 

Pablo maintains that from 1999 to today, the orchestra’s sound has evolved significantly. They have increased the number of musicians and incorporated other genres alongside merengue to reflect the area they lived in. Today, they also perform cumbia, salsa, and a bit of bachata.

Importantly, Pablo Antonio Y La Firma does not use backing tracks, as Pablo views them as a form of deception toward the audience, leaving people unsure if a live band actually sounds that good or if a track is doing the heavy lifting. “If a client is paying for something, that is exactly what I want to provide—everything sounding original and authentic” Pablo stated.

Finally, its former manager for more than 10 years was Brendaliz Cintrón, who was reponsible for the connections and performances they have made and its current musical director is Jhonny Ayquipa. 

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Bassist Alex Torres has a few interesting things to tell us, so we greatly appreciate that he took the time to talk with us about his career, his personal life, and the band he currently leads.

Here are the most important things that Alex had to say in our pleasant and cheerful conversation.

Alex’s beginnings in music

Alex recalls that, since he was about four or five years old, he always listened to music from vinyl records his parents had in the Bronx, where the family was living at the time. He recalls his mother stepping towards the four-legged console radio in the living room and playing 45-rpm records, which made him stare at the interior of the machine and wonder how it was possible that this black circle had a band playing inside.

That innocent idea of a child makes him laugh a lot today, but it was the beginning of a passion for music that kindled when he was a little kid. In addition, his mother always used to take him to see live performances at the Boulevard Theater, which was the favourite location in the area to enjoy great live music. So each Friday, she gave her son fifty cents to go to the record store and pick out the ones he liked the most, which was what made him become a music fan.

Among the artists he saw live was Antonio Aguilar. His mother loved mariachis and Mexican music in general, so they went to see him sing, and little Alex even had the chance to tripped on the stage to take a closer look. They also went to see Willie Colón, who performed there very often.

Musical education

While still in elementary school, Alex was playing the trumpet and taking music class there. At his former school, he and his classmates used to play very cheerful music, which was not the case here. At this new academic institution, they had to play music for the soccer team’s marching band, so he asked his teacher if he could play something different. To this he replied: “You will not tell me how to teach my class.” Alex was so upset that he answered back really rude, causing him to be sent out of the classroom.

From then on, he only went to school, but not to music class. When he explained to his mother what happened, she told him that tears would not get him anywhere and now he had to prove to that teacher what he was capable of doing. That was when, in 1980, he founded his own orchestra, taking inspiration from that unpleasant episode he experienced and the chance to prove to that man what he could achieve.

His own orchestra

Regarding his first attempt to start his own project, Alex contacted his friend Roberto López, who is from San Sebastián, a town in Puerto Rico. The point is that Roberto did not play the guitar or the Puerto Rican cuatro, as well as Alex did not play the guitar or the bass, but that did not stop them from coming together to teach each other, play together, and form a band.

To learn how to play the bass, he played a guitar and played the four top strings, until he could buy his own bass with much effort. It has been 46 years since all that began.

Alex Torres & His Latin Orchestra

Alex told us that he never had the need to be in other groups before his and that he always aspired to have his own band. The only difference is that he had to modify the name a bit due to the problems it has put him and his bandmates through at the time. It turns out that the band was called Alex Torres & The Latin Kings (“The Latin Kings” being the name of a very famous criminal gang in the United States and around the world), causing them to be pulled out of the boarding queue to be questioned and strip-searched at time of travel.

To spare themselves, Alex and the rest of the guys agreed to remove the word “kings” so they would no longer be seen in a bad way, especially when it comes to traveling. That was how they changed their name to Alex Torres & His Latin Orchestra, which is how they are still known today.

Major performances

Alex and his orchestra can boast of having performed for important personalities such as Bill Clinton, his wife Hillary Clinton, George Pataki, Eliot Spitzer, and others. Alex describes these opportunities as a product of his work and that of his team.

One of the things he thinks has made him worthy of his achievements is punctuality. If a performance is scheduled for a certain time, they always try to be on site an hour and a half earlier to fine-tune all necessary details. They also give great importance to clothing and personal appearance to make a good impression on the audience. This has helped create a good reputation over the years and has made more influential people to hire them.

Arts-In-Education Program of New York State

Alex Torres & His Latin Orchestra is also part of the Arts-In-Education Program of New York State, with which the artist and his colleagues seek to teach schoolchildren and college students about cultural diversity, music, instruments, and rhythms associated with the music they perform. They also discuss geography and Afro-Caribbean percussion, including instruments such as the güiro, bongos, maracas, and timbales. All this is done with the purpose of ensuring that young people have respect for musicians, culture, and all that it implies.

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