Charly Ortiz-Martínez
In a town like Nashville, where music is a core tenet of our identity, there are always unsung heroes who do the heavy lifting. These Atlases of the scene have always been there to hold up the community of musicians, venues and fans in ways that are often overlooked. And if we were to give them the respect they’re due, Charly Ortiz-Martínez would be a gold-medal Olympian.
Ortiz has quietly been one of the hardest-working figures in the Nashville fringe over the past decade. As a drummer, he holds down the beat for the avant-garde Hessians of My Wall and heavy-psych power trio Maanta Raay. His indie label No Sabes has amassed a catalog of some 30 releases since 2018, including recent full-length albums by both bands he’s in as well as sounds from distant places — including two other continents.
In 2024, My Wall toured Japan, inspired by Ortiz’s collaborations with Shizuoka hip-hop producer Boogie Mason for No Sabes. Later that year, Ortiz and fellow local crate-digger Stephany Medina took a trip to Colombia to perform as a DJ duo with No Sabes acts Animaleja and Rudio Selecto (both of whom have new music coming soon). No Sabes keeps Nashville close to its heart with a recent 12-inch from Bursting, a dissonant Chicago band made up of Nashville expats who were in metal outfit Yautja. No Sabes isn’t shackled to one specific sound, the way many indie imprints are. Instead it’s an expression of Ortiz’s love of exploring new music.
As his alter ego DJ Los, Ortiz brings the flavors of salsa and cumbia music to Tennessee turntables. Following a monthly residency at Inglewood Lounge last year, Ortiz and Medina established Esencial as a quasi-monthly night of dance music from Latin and Caribbean countries. The next Esencial will be at The Blue Room at Third Man Records on Friday. In the run-up to the event, Ortiz was kind enough to take the time to talk about his incredibly dense schedule as a musician, record label founder and DJ.
“I started doing [Esencial] because I’ve been DJing around town,” Ortiz says. He met Medina through manning the decks at bars and parties. The pair established that they had a lot in common musically, and they began providing a soundtrack for local events, including a Latin dance party at Bearded Iris’ taproom and the recent 15th anniversary party for labor advocacy group Workers’ Dignity. “And then we had the idea of doing our own parties,” he explains, “spinning a lot of classic salsa, cumbia, Caribbean and Latin music, because we collect a lot of vinyl.”
Ortiz, who grew up in South Nashville, says cumbia is the heartbeat of his entire musical literacy, established at his family parties when he was just a kid.
“It was probably the first kind of music I listened to,” he says. “My dad’s from Mexico. My mom’s from El Salvador. So I have both of those different types of Latin American culture coming together and sharing the different types of music — the different types of cumbia.”
Cumbia isn’t a specifically defined sound. The dance music is said to have been the result of the melding of the Indigenous music of Colombia meeting the sounds Africans brought over as slaves kidnapped by Spanish colonizers. “But I think the connector is that it’s the rhythm,” says Ortiz.
A scene from Esencial
The beautifully infectious rhythms spread across the continent and into North America, with each new region establishing a fresh take. Contemporary cumbia touches on hip-hop, house music and even punk, as each new community of Latin artists melds their musical heritages. Since establishing Esencial, Medina and Ortiz have shared their love for salsa, funk and cumbia from all over the Spanish-language world in ever-evolving ways.
“We kind of wanted to do something a little extra,” Ortiz says. “So we incorporated these percussion players that also are familiar with the background — are familiar with the types of music and the rhythms and different kinds of beats and melodies that it makes.”
Along with Medina and Ortiz, Esencial features Jimmy Lopez and Euge Sosa Barboza on live instruments, with a rotating cast of guests on the turntables. This month’s guest DJ is Rafaela Racines, who’s also part of a duo called The Children of House. “That makes it kind of cool because they all have their own flavor, their own style, their own flair,” says Ortiz, “bringing it to the experience.”
When asked how folks new to Latin dance music should approach Esencial, Ortiz is very inviting.
“Don’t be scared to dance. It’s a good time either way. Don’t overthink it. Maybe it’s a little intimidating because there’s a lot of people that are really good at dancing, but it doesn’t matter. [Laughs] If you do come to one of the shows, don’t be scared to ask to play a hand percussion instrument or something. Join the party, you know?”
