Music of Costa Rica
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Costa Rica counts with an outstanding National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica since the early 1900's. Offers worldwide performances as well as seasonal concerts usually held in the National Theater, a replica of the Opera of Paris. Often perfoms giving concerts in the White House USA, to the Kings of Spain, have held concerts with Luciano Pavarotti, the Royal family of Japan, etc. Proudly, also performs in the regional areas and underdeveloped countries, teaching classical music. The National Symphony Orchestra has various CD's.
Costa Rica also has a Youth Symphony Orchestra, founded by ex President Jose Figueres Ferrer in the 1970. "Concertina Ana Gabriela Castro-Rosabal" was the first 4 year old girl/ child/Costa Rican to direct the Youth Symphony Orchestra into tuning in its 1970 Debut, and first 4 year old violin solist to play Mozart under the direction of director Gerald Brown. Violinist Ana Gabriela Castro-Rosabal, Master in Violin Performance was the key performer for the Yourth Symphony Orchestra Debut in 1970...
Proudly the Costa Ricans say, "Costa Rica does not have an army, but has violins". Instead of allocating budget to have an army, Costa Rica has a Symphony, free education K to Ph.D. and free universal health insurance.
| Music of Costa Rica Topics | |
|---|---|
| Calypso | Rock |
| Soca | Rumba |
| Reggaeton | Hip hop |
| Pop | Cumbia |
| Merengue | Salsa |
| Bachata | Classical music |
| Tex-Mex | Guanacaste |
| Marimba music | Folklorico |
| Afro-Caribbean music | |
| Punk | Ska |
| Timeline and Samples | |
| Central American music | |
| Belize - Costa Rica - El Salvador - Guatemala - Honduras - Nicaragua - Panama | |
Though its music has achieved little international credit, 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 very popular and common among the youth (especially urban youth), while dance-oriented genres like soca, salsa, merengue, cumbia and Tex-Mex have an appeal among a somewhat older 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 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].
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, Tango India, Suite Doble, Alma Bohemia, and Kadeho, all of which have been accepted positively by Costa Rican youths. There are Metal bands, like Insano, Deznuke, December's Cold Winter, Feedback(fdbk) and Cold, to name but a few. Also bands venturing into Reggae and Ska are popular, one example is Mekatelyu and Michael Livingston.
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 somehow the most common music genre in some specific sectors, and visitors will find that most Costa Ricans of certain generations favor Latin music (Cuban, Mexican and Colombian).
[edit] Metal Scene
The Metal Scene in Costa Rica has been growing in the past years, the death metal scene in particular. With bands like Katharzys and December's Cold Winter, the metal community in Costa Rica has become more acceptive of national bands. December's Cold Winter recently recorded their first full-length album with Lamb of God's producer, and Katharzys will released their EP The Beginning of Desolation in November, 2007. The black metal scene also has a large number of bands, with Morbid Funeral and Mortigor leading the scene.
[edit] Rock and Hardcore Scene
There are great new bands like The Movement in Codes, Billy the Kid, A Reason To Die, Passenger, Akasha, A Cry For Marie and many more, that can prove to the whole world Costa Rica has top quality music in Spanish and in English.
[edit] Music Institutions
Classical music performing organizations include the Costa Rican National Symphony Orchestra (formed in 1970), which has been conducted by Americans Gerald Brown and Irwin Hoffman, and currently by the Japanese music director, Chosei Komatsu. The country is also home to an opera company, one of the first professional choirs in Central America, and a state-subsidized youth orchestra, which belongs to the National Symphony Orchestra. The Universidad de Costa Rica has a concert band and an orchestra, besides an early-music group and several chamber music groups. The National University, Universidad Nacional, has a resident string quartet and a Symphony Orchestra which had its very successul premiere at the National Theatre in San José on May 10, 2007, conducted by Dieter Lehnhoff. It has also a highly successful piano school led by the Russian virtuoso, Alexandr Sklioutovsky. Other well-known groups are the El Café Chorale and the Sura Chamber Choir[4].
Both the Universidad de Costa Rica (UCR), in San José, and the Universidad Nacional (UNA), in Heredia, have well-structured programmes in Music, where students can pursue bachelor's degrees in instrumental and vocal performing, composition, and conducting. The latter also has a doctoral degree in Central American Arts and Letters, with an emphasis in Music.
Contemporary composers include Mario Alfagüell, Marvin Camacho, Alejandro Cardona, Bernal Flores, Benjamín Gutiérrez, Luis Diego Herra, and Eddie Mora, to name but a few.
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
- [5] The Benjamín Gutiérrez Saénz Project (Dedicated to Costa Rica's contemporary music)
- [6] Costa Rica Music Festival
- www.lafi.org
- www.fdbkweb.com
- www.photo.net/cr/moon/arts-and-culture
- www.grupomalpais.com
- Events Calendar of Costa Rica: concerts, opera, ...
- Costa Rica's National Symphony
| 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 |
