Cosmopolitan music in the waist of America

Lorna Chacon
Salsa, merengue, rock, pop, blues, jazz, calypso, reggae, ethnic music and gospel: Costa Rica is a country that moves to the pace of the richest merge of musical rhythms, which diversity reflects the mixing of cultures that had bloomed in this small nation located in the waist of America.
The musical memory of this land, which has been a mandatory stop for thousands of travellers, has gathered the voices of numerous people whose sounds evoke the miscegenation of the indigenous
with the Spanish, the arrival of the Jamaicans, Italians, English, French, and people from many other nationalities who have found in this small country their second motherland.
“ For us, it is a must to do them all: salsa, merengue, calypso, gospel, blues, rock ... because Costa Rica has been a very friendly country with the immigrants, and thus, the profile of Costa Ricans has
internalized the influence of the diverse cultures “, assures the musician and composer Bernardo Quesada. This singer, who writes his own songs, makes clear that this country is so small that
it allows traveling from the Caribbean coast to the Pacific Ocean in only six hours through the highway and the diversity of its geographical and climatic conditions are likewise reflected in the musical production. Since we are a small market, Costa Rican musicians have had to move towards recording with the bigger brands, but in the last years independent labels have arisen, such as Papaya Music (www.papayamusic.com), which has rescued the most diverse manifestations of Costa Rican and Central American music. On the other hand, the support of the State to the vocational training of musicians has allowed the emergence of numerous generations with high quality to compose and to execute not only classical music, in the National Symphonic Orchestra and in the Philharmonic Orchestra, but also the most varied musical rhythms flavoured with the passion of the Latin-American spirit. These academic musicians have fused their styles with the wealth of the popular musicians that have arisen in all the corners of the country and have portrayed, in their songs, the daily spirit of “Costa Ricans”. Costa Rican music little by little has begun to have international projection and, in this respect, one of the most recognized names is that of the trio Editus, a group of “ new age” fusion that has gained three Grammy awards when recorded music together with the famous Panamanian “salsero” Rubén Blades, the current minister of Tourism in his country. On the other hand, the singer and author Humberto Vargas was awarded with the 2006 edition of the Viña del Mar Festival in Chile with his song “Dilo de Una Vez” .

Vargas is one of the exponents of the new Costa Rican music, where numerous singers and authors have emerged, such as Maria Pretiz, Esteban Monge, Patricio Torres, Francisco Murillo, Rubén Pagura and Luis Angel Castro, among many others.

Salsa and merengue occupy a place of privilege and are musical styles interpreted by numerous orchestras as La Solucion and Timbaleo, which play live in hotels and dance lounges as the well-known site El Tobogán. For jazz lovers, the menu is very varied, and there is even a site called Jazz Café, located in San Pedro, Montes de Oca (San José), where there is live music every night with an offer that goes beyond jazz covering other musical styles with bands such as Malpaís, which has many fans because their music is a contemporary version of the traditional Costa Rican sounds. On the Caribbean side, the band Cantoamérica has revived, through investigation, the sounds of this particular culture; and the brand Papaya Music has rescued the legendary voices of calypso in Limón with the CD “Calypso Limón Legends”, which compiles the most widely known songs of Limón of the last 40 years. One of the main singers of the zone is Walter Ferguson. Inside the offer of Costa Rican rhythms also figures the Trombonists’ Quartet of Costa Rica; the group of gospel , Master Key; the experimental band, Amarillo, Cyan y Magenta; Miriam Jarquín; and Blues Latino, as well as the pianist Manuel Obregón. The influence of other nations has also had a space inside the menu of local music, as the group Arabika, interpreters of Lebanese music; or the Peregrino Gris group, which plays Celtic music.

In rock and pop, one of the most recognized groups is Gandhi, but the list is very long and includes bands such as Escats, El Guato, Balerom and Kadeho; thus, with such a great menu, it would be impossible for you to refuse to listen to a good concert of Costa Rican music.