Horacio Hinojosa and Bulbo Houston are here in International Salsa Magazine

Mexican guitarist and vocalist Horacio Hinojosa joins this 190th edition to talk about the most important details of his career and the group he currently leads, Bulbo Houston.

The artista originating from Tampico, Tamaulipas, gave us nearly half an hour of his time to talk about his musical beginnings as a teenager up to this day. It is a very interesting overview of his personal and professional life, which we are thankful to know here exclusively for International Salsa Magazine.

How Horacio got into music

At the age of 14 or 15 Horacio began to have a curiosity about music, and his greatest inspiration was his own father, who worked as a professional musician. Therefore, he always saw musicians at home rehearsing and playing, which constantly caught his attention. Instead of going to hardware stores like many other fathers, his went to guitar and piano shops and, of course, took him with him.

Additionally, school festivals, where volunteers were always needed to play instruments, provided an opportune time to start exploring his passion. The first instrument to interest him was the guitar, which he loved right from the start, leading him to ask his dad to teach him the basics.

Years later, he began to sing, but he could not become a vocalist until he turned 20. That was when he finally got the opportunity to be the lead singer in a band.

Academic training

He studied at the Music School of the Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas, and while he did not complete his degree, the formal training he received was immensely helpful later on. 

Besides music, he has no other profession, as he has dedicated his entire life to it and remains so to this day.

Professional Beginnings

It was precisely there, in his hometown that he began his professional career, performing at weddings, restaurants, bars, and other venues since he was a minor. He played with many orchestras in Tampico, being the most important the group D´TNT, later called Bulbo. In this orchestra, he performed on major stages throughout Mexico, met people and visited places he had never imagined.

Move to the United States

In 2003 or 2004, Horacio was invited to serve as an acoustic consultant by a group of entrepreneurs who launched live music and entertainment businesses in the United States.

He had conquered many scanarios in his home country and was doing pretty well in work volume, but there came a point when the situation of violence generated by organized crime groups in his native Tampico and Monterrey severely complicated his job, since most of his concerts were at night.

With so many limitations to work and two young children, Horacio made the painful decision to accept the offer to move permanently to the United States, and never came back. Fortunately, the career he built with Bulbo in Mexico and all the original music he created with the group was very useful to get his work permit at the time.

Bulbo in Houston

From the original trio, only Horacio is left. Upon arrival, the artist had no choice but to play covers in local bars. Eventually, many of these establishments were closed due to the bad economy between 2010 and 2012. However, good comes out of all bad, and Horacio proved was an example of that.

Several guests that patronized the venues where he played began to hire him for their own weddings and family events under the Brand name of Bulbo. This forced him to leave his comfort zone and learn what audiences of all nationalities wanted, as he was well accustomed to the Mexican audience.

By having a diverse audience, he felt compelled to learn to play and sing different styles of music. Thus, today he covers the city’s most popular hits, but also has recorded original music to be released at the right time.

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