Music of Costa Rica
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Though its music has achieved little international renown, Costa Rican popular music genres include an indigenous calypso scene which is distinct from the more widely-known Trinidadian calypso sound, as well as a thriving disco audience that supports nightclubs in cities like San José. American and British rock and roll and pop are popular among the youth (at least the urban youths), while dance-oriented genres like soca, salsa, merengue, cumbia and Tex-Mex have an appeal among a wider spread audience.
Mexican music is very popular among older people and some people in the countryside. During the middle years of the 20th century, Costa Rica was exposed to much Mexican cultural influence.
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[edit] Folk music
The Caribbean coast shows a strong African influence in the complex percussion rhythms like sinkit. Like its northerly neighbors in Central America, the marimba is a very popular instrument, and Costa Rican marimba music is very popular. In modern times, groups like Cantares have helped to popularize Costa Rican folk music, and were a leading part of the New Costa Rican Song movement [1].
Costa Rica's pre-Columbian population has contributed a large part of the country's folk heritage, include rare musical scales, certain ceremonial songs and ocarinas. The Guanacaste region, in the Peninsula of Nicoya, is home to the best-known folk traditions. Along the Atlantic coast, the African musical heritage is more pronounced, and Afro-Caribbean music like rumba, calypso and reggae are popular.
In most of Costa Rica, ancient instruments like ocarinas are being replaced by international instruments like accordions and guitars. There are still folk styles, even outside of Guanacaste, such as the Talamanca's Danza de los Huelos and the Boruca's Danza de los Diablitos.===Guanacaste===
Guanacaste is the major center for Costa Rican folk music, especially pre-Columbian styles like the Danza del Sol and Danza de la Luna of the Chorotega, who also popularized the ancient quijongo (a single-string bow and gourd resonator) and native oboe, the chirimia [2].
[edit] Popular music
Costa Rica's population never developed a major rhythm or style that became a major part of popular music, nor has Costa Rica produced a great literary or other artistic tradition [3]. There have been exceptions, such as the Costa Rican landscape school of painting in the 1920s. The Andean peña tradition (an international gathering of like-minded persons) is strong in Costa Rica as well, introduced by immigrants from Chile and Argentina.
In the late 1980s some local artists and bands became famous for having their own style and original material, such as José Capmany, Café con Leche and Inconsciente Colectivo; some of them had fans from outside of Costa Rica, like Editus, a Grammy winning contemporary jazz ensemble. At around that time a popular Latin genre developed, chiqui-chiqui as it was known, led by bands such as Los Hicsos and La Banda. Chiqui-chiqui was mostly a commercial and easy approach to music and soon disappeared.
From the late 90's to present time, there has emerged a newer local rock style led by bands such as Gandhi, Evolución and Kadeho, all of which have been accepted positively by Costa Rican youths. "Heavier" bands include the likes of Insano, Deznuke, December's Cold Winter and Cold to name but a few. -visit KOLD's website[4]. Also bands venturing into Reggae and Ska are popular, one example being Mekatelyu. Malpaís, a band emerging from the guanacaste-area, is one of the central bands of the Costa Rican rock and music scene of today, mixing traditional Costa Rican folk and Latin music with jazz and rock and has met great success in Costa Rica and surrounding countries.
For all the fanfarre of rock, electronic or world music, Latin music is by far the most pervasive music genre and visitors will find that most Costa Ricans favor Latin music (Cuban, Mexican and Colombian).
[edit] Music institutions
European classical music institutions include the Costa Rican Chamber Orchestra and the Costa Rican National Symphony Orchestra (formed in 1970); the country is also home to the first professional choir in Central America and the only state-subsidized youth orchestra in the Western World, the Sura Chamber Choir[5].
Costa Rican folk institutions include the Fantasía Folklorica. Every August, Costa Rica is home to an International Festival of Music.
In recent years the government, led by the Ministerio de Cultura, has aimed to revitalize traditional Costa Rican music.
[edit] References
- www.lafi.org
- www.spanishabroad.com
- www.photo.net/cr/moon/arts-and-culture
- www.grupomalpais.com
- Events Calendar of Costa Rica: concerts, opera, ...
| Central American music |
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Belize - Costa Rica - El Salvador - Garifuna - Guatemala - Honduras - Nicaragua - Panama |
| Latin American music |
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Argentina - Bolivia - Brazil - Chile - Colombia - Costa Rica - Cuba - Dominican Republic - Ecuador - El Salvador |
