Leonel García opens a path as a soloist in the United States: “It has been hard work and we know that we have to do it”

The nomination that most excites Leonel García 2:47 (CNN Spanish) – For Leonel García, restarting and starting from scratch is an exercise that he sees with good eyes. The singer-songwriter, known for being part of the successful group Sin Bandera, has also had a solo career for a few years. In his native Mexico, he says, it took him a decade for the public and the stages to get to know him with that solo project. And precisely that job from scratch, of building a name outside the group that launched him to stardom in Latin America and other latitudes, is one that he is willing to carve out in the United States. “We are opening a market, we are beginning to meet the public in the United States in the solo part,” Garcia told CNN Pop Zone in an interview via Zoom from Miami. “In Mexico it took me nearly a decade to work on my career as a soloist and suddenly to be doing more important places in Mexico. It has been hard work and we know that we have to do it,” he says. Leonel García from a more intimate stage And perhaps that intimacy that he presents in this acoustic tour, with a stage closer to the audience, with four instruments: piano, guitar, violin and his voice, together with a candlelight setting , is the way in which the Mexican will present himself to this new audience. “You have to work, you have to bring music to the people and I think this is a great way. A very intimate way, where people can really feel what is the clear difference between Sin Bandera and what I do alone. How the music feels and how I express the music when I am a soloist. There are many differences that people do not know here in the United States because I have never come alone, so it is a first meeting and it excites me a lot, “Garcia told Zona Pop CNN. At this stage, the singer-songwriter says that he had to relearn how to communicate with his audience from the stage. Being a more introspective, reserved artist, he had to learn new ways to exchange energy with the attendees of each performance. “Communication with the public is very different,” he says. “I never talk about better or worse, but I do talk about the fact that the type of energy that exists above all in the room is very different, my personality is expressed much more, which is much more introspective, much more intimate,” said García. What Leonel learned with his career as a soloist Those ten years of work in Mexico did not decimate Leonel García’s spirit. On the contrary, he gave him more tools to become a well-rounded artist. Among those lessons, he says, is making music for the love of art. A phrase that, although he says that some handle it lightly, has an apprenticeship behind it. “Beginning for the love of art, a famous phrase that is then handled lightly… It’s because he does it for the love of art! Yes, I think yes,” he explains. “I’m left with the learning to remember where this comes from. To remember that we do this because we love it and not necessarily because of the result we have with it,” García tells CNN Pop Zone. That path as a soloist led him to calibrate the compass, he says, “Suddenly you lose the compass a little as to why you dedicate yourself to this when you have some success, you can forget the origin of where it all started, in the room of your house, in your bedroom, with your guitar”. That is why, he explains, that stepping on stage with his guitar, a piano and his voice brings him back to life, in addition to eliminating the noise of the ego that comes with massive recognition. “That gives you a lot of life, it takes away weird responsibilities, it takes away weird loyalties that you shouldn’t have with fame or results. And you focus on the art, on the music, on what you’re going to see. And then it turns out that the paradox is that when you do music and art well, the results usually come,” he says. Leonel García Acústico: the dates (Credit: Leonel García) If you are interested in seeing Leonel García, you can attend some of these concerts. July 21: Dallas, Texas July 22: San Antonio, Texas July 23: Hidalgo, Texas July 28: Tucson, Arizona July 30: Los Angeles, California Tickets are on sale now at Ticketmaster and envivoymas.com.