GalicianTunes: Artist

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Ortiga

The most important thing I have to say about Ortiga is that Chicho is a good guy. This is essential, because in life there are a lot of idiots and a lot of "trapalleiros", which is what we call in Galicia those who are shabby and deceitful, but, as I was saying, this is not the case with Chicho. He is a millennial of his time and his land, although a bit particular too. He stays at home without wifi to fix himself some meringues, hasn't installed WhatsApp, lives in his usual neighbourhood, in Santiago de Compostela, next to a declining shopping centre. There he is, Chicho, with his honesty and his feet on the ground.

Ortiga, his musical project, is not easy to explain if you haven't grown up in the Galician “verbenas”. There are many more cows than people in Galicia, and almost as many orchestras as cows. Thousands of “verbenas” are held here every year; on 15 August alone, there are a hundred verbenas at the same fucking time. In this broth boils Ortiga, which sounds like the Caribbean brought by our migrants, but also like what we now call urban music.

-Tito Lesende