TONTXU IPIÑA

Juan Antonio Ipiña García (Tontxu) was born in Bilbao in August 1972. At the age of eleven, he composed his first song after his parents took him to see a performance by Moncho Borrajo. The curious and observant child was dazzled by the Galician artist’s act, where Borrajo would ask the theatre audience for three random words and then improvise a song on the spot. Inspired, Tontxu went home, picked up his father’s guitar, and did the same by choosing random words from a dictionary with his eyes closed.

During his adolescence, Tontxu composed more than three hundred songs while juggling his first job as a radio host for Los 40 Principales on Cadena SER in Bilbao. There, he met and interviewed other young singer-songwriters who, like him, were creating music in the mid-90s. They encouraged him to go to Madrid and showcase his work at the legendary Café Libertad 8. Tontxu took their advice, packed a backpack with shirts, and the guitar Borrajo had given him, and headed to Madrid to pursue his dream of sharing his melodies with the world. That same year, he was nominated in the NEW AUTHOR category at the Music Awards.

In 2023, Tontxu continues his career after spending some time focusing on his family and three children in the paradise of the Sierra de Gata in Extremadura, where he has lived for the past ten years. He has never stopped composing songs, producing, and editing albums for new artists. He has performed across Spain and Latin America. With 13 albums to his name, Tontxu is a renowned artist, an essential reference for understanding contemporary singer-songwriter music.