Adolescent's Orquesta

Adolescent's Orquesta is a popular, internationally recognized salsa ensemble from Venezuela, founded and led by award-winning musician, composer, producer, and arranger Porfi Baloa (Victor Porfirio Baloa Díaz). Their popular 1990s hits, including “Anhelo,” “Persona Ideal,” and “Recuerdos,” registered radio play and sales across Latin America, allowing the group to tour successfully. They did it again in the early 21st century with a new lineup, issuing internationally charting hit singles such as “Se Acabó el Amor” and “En Aquel Lugar.” After 2009′s long-player La Misma Pluma, Baloa put the group on hiatus for several years as he pursued other projects and sought out singers from five Latin American countries. The group re-formed for 2015′s Indestructible and toured incessantly for years. In 2019 they issued Salsa Colombiana.
Adolescent's Orquesta is essentially the group of Porfi Baloa (piano, keyboards, bass), who is not only the group’s producer but also its musical director, arranger, and primary songwriter. The original singer’s lineup of Adolescent's Orquesta was comprised of Wilmer Lozano, Williams Lozano, Armando Guiñan, and Charly Villegas and eventually expanded to include 12 players. The original lineup sang on the group’s full-length album debut, Reclamando Nuestro Espacio (1995), and its follow-up, Persona Ideal (1997), which spawned the respective hit singles “Anhelo” and “Persona Ideal.” Adolescent's Orquesta’s standout singer, Wilmer Lozano, then departed for a solo career and was replaced by Sócrates Cariaco for the group’s third album, La Misma Pluma (1998). Unlike its predecessors, this album failed to spawn a major hit, and the group wrapped up its recording contract with Sony Music in 1999 with the compilation Millenium Hits.
After the turn of the century and several years out of the spotlight, Baloa reassembled Adolescent's Orquesta, hiring a new lineup of young male vocalists: Angel Delgado, Oscar Arriaga, Everson Hernández, and Armando Davalillo. The comeback album Búscame (2005) — released domestically by Universal Music Venezuela and internationally by Union Music Group in 2008 — revived the group’s fortunes, spawning the major hits “Se Acabó el Amor” and “En Aquel Lugar.” In the wake of this comeback, they toured the world. Adolescent's Orquesta released Clásicos en Vivo (2008), a live performance of the group’s greatest hits to date. After 2009′s Sellos De Mi ADN, Baloa put the group on hiatus again because of his many project commitments, among them his deep research into Afro-Latin folkloric song forms and rhythms.
When Adolescent's Orquestra returned in 2015, Baloa showcased an entirely new group of singers from five different countries: Alex Quintero (Venezuela), Jonathan Martínez (Colombia), Jimmy Rodríguez (Mexico), Rodrigo Silva (Chile), and Ernesto Cabrera (Cuba). They released Indestructible in 2015; it charted in Venezuela and Colombia. After several more tours, they issued their critically acclaimed full-length Salsa Colombiana in 2019; the album netted three singles including “Ahora Enteregate,” “Mi Tengo Que Ir,” and “Te Hizo Ten Bella.” In 2021, they issued the pre-release single and video for “Resistre.” ~ Jason Birchmeier & Thom Jurek