Grupo Ondo is the Third Generation of Los Aguilares
The legendary Los Aguilares have produced so many musicians that perhaps they should re-name themselves Los Conejos Musicales, the musical bunnies.
“Before we trace their bloodline to the third generation, let it be known that Maldad was the second generation of Los Aguilares because of my little brother Santos,” said Miguel Ángel Aguilar Sr.
Santos, drums; and J.R. Ramos, accordion; were 14 and 16, respectively, when they started playing with Los Aguilares. However, they were five and six when they mastered the musical instruments they now play.
The name might imply they are up to no good, but this “wicked” band, which was born out of “scandal,” is now producing lots of ‘good’ music.
Although both musicians formed part of Los Aguilares, both were simultaneously performing with Miguel Ángel’s Escandalo (Scandal) band when they branched out on their own.
“The idea to form our own group came after Los Aguilares’ gigs dwindled and we didn’t know if there was any room for us in the future,” J.R. revealed.
Grupo Ondo was an idea that Miguel Ángel Aguilar Jr. and Ricardo “Richard” Aguilar Medina had thought of bringing to fruition. The cousins and are Emilio Aguilar’s grandsons, so they were born into a musical family dynasty where they grew up as brothers.
“Grupo Ondo was born on New Year’s Eve 2011,” Miguel Ángel Jr. said. “We had kind of been trying to formulate this for a while and that night — during a Los Aguilares gig when we were helping out (great uncle) Genaro at a time I was also helping out Fito Olivares — we found the musicians
“Because Richard and I like to work as a partnership, I took the jump and left Fito to do our project.
Anthony Revilla, bass helped us out in the beginning and wound up being our bass player. Santos is also helping them out, but he is still with Maldad.
“The definition of hondo is ‘deep’ and we took that name because we believe that our roots are deep from the core. Our music is an innovative variety of styles from Tejano to Norteño and our musical concept is real deep, but still in the tradition of Los Aguilares. So we dropped the ‘h’ and named ourselves Grupo Ondo,” the 21-year-old bandleader continued.
“We pretty forced our first compact disc, “Se Busca / Grupo Onda 2012” on our own label, Prodigy Records, to get it out there and thanks to God we’re here. The first song we pushed was “Mi Pequeño Amor,” an old song we rejuvenated as a cumbia and we’re like to thank KEDA for playing our music because shortly thereafter, we started doing big shows with Ramón Ayala, Limite, Bronco, Los Farias, Desperados and others.
“Now la onda is catching on to our music at a time when I didn’t foresee where I would be one year from when we started,” Miguel Ángel said with amazement of their overnight success.
The next tune, they will promo is “Ojos Cerrados,” a beautiful ranchera by Samuel Ramos. “We’re proud of that piece because no one else has it and hopefully Richard and I will soon get into the song writing process,” said the lead vocalist said.
Miguel Ángel Jr., lead vocals and bajo sexto; Richard, accordion and second voice; Anthony Revilla, bass; and Miguel’s uncle Santos on drums; are the young guns that make up Grupo Ondo and they will be one of the opening acts during their Great Uncles 53rd Anniversary Dance at the San Antonio Event Center on Saturday, January 19.
For bookings call Miguel Ángel Aguilar Sr. at AGL Entertainment (210) 978-2310.