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The country ofCosta Rica has many kinds of music.
| 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 | Metal | |
| Punk | Ska | |
| Timeline andSamples | ||
| 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 knownTrinidadiancalypso sound, as well as a thrivingdisco audience that supports nightclubs in cities such asSan José. American and Britishrock and roll andpop are very popular and common among the youth (especially urban youth), while dance-oriented genres includingsoca,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.
Another new genre explored in Costa Rica is Celtic with the groupPeregrino Gris.
The Caribbean coast shows a strong African influence in the complex percussion rhythms such assinkit. Like its northerly neighbors in Central America, themarimba is a very popular instrument, and Costa Rican marimba music is popular. In modern times, groups such asCantares have helped to popularize Costa Rican folk music, and were a leading part of theNew Costa Rican Song movement.[1]
Costa Rica's pre-Columbian population has contributed a large part of the country's folk heritage, include raremusical scales, certain ceremonial songs andocarinas. TheGuanacaste region, in theNicoya Peninsula, is home to the best-known folk traditions. Along the Atlantic coast, theAfrican musical heritage is more pronounced, andAfro-Caribbean music includingrumba,calypso andreggae are popular.
In most of Costa Rica, ancient instruments such as ocarinas are being replaced by international instruments such asaccordions andguitars. There are still folk styles, even outside of Guanacaste, such as theTalamanca (canton)'sDanza de los Huelos and theBoruca people'sDanza de los Diablitos.
Guanacaste is the major center for Costa Rican folk music, especially pre-Columbian styles such as theDanza del Sol andDanza de la Luna of theChorotega, who also popularized the ancientquijongo (a single-string bow andgourdresonator) and nativeoboe, thechirimia.[2]
Costa Rica's population never developed a major rhythm or style that became a major part of popular music, but there have been exceptions, such as theCosta Rican landscape school of painting in the 1920s. The Andeanpeña tradition (an international gathering of like-minded persons) is strong in Costa Rica as well, introduced by immigrants fromChile andArgentina.
In the late 1980s some local artists and bands became famous for having their own style and original material, such asJosé Capmany, Distorsión,Café con Leche,Modelo Para Armar andInconsciente Colectivo; some of them had fans from outside of Costa Rica, such asEditus, a Grammy winning contemporary jazz ensemble. At around that time a popular Latin genre developed, chiqui-chiqui (a mixture ofmerengue,cumbia and other Latin rhythms along withafro-pop influences) as it was known, led by bands such as Los Hicsos,Jaque Mate, La Pandylla, Manantial and La Banda with well-known classic hits such as La Avispa, El cangrejo, Julieta, El criticon, El hula hula etc.
After losing popularity around the 1990s, chiqui chiqui has resurfaced and established itself as one of the most popular and recognizable music among Costa Ricans, thanks in part to the release of CD re-editions of many classic hits.Some examples of Costa Rican hits with Chiqui chiqui are:
| Bands | Song | Year |
|---|---|---|
| La Banda | Avispa (Suavecito) | 1978 |
| Los Abejorros | La Fiesta | 1982 |
| La Banda | Panamá Me Tombé | 1982 |
| La Pandylla | A Comer Mamey | 1985 |
| Marfil | Menealo | 1985 |
| Jaque Mate | El Pipiribao | 1985 |
| Blanco Y Negro | El Güiri Güiri | 1986 |
| Jaque Mate | El Cangrejo | 1986 |
| Manantial | Julieta | 1986 |
| Marfil | Represento | 1986 |
| La Banda | La Pastilla Del Amor | 1987 |
| La Maffia | Con Medio Peso | 1988 |
| Los Alegrísimos | El Delicuente | 1988 |
| La Empresa | Latino Soy | - |
| Los Hicsos | El Hula Hula | - |
From the late 1990s to the present time, there has emerged a newer local rock style led by bands such asGandhi,Evolución, Tango India, Suite Doble, Alma Bohemia, and Kadeho, all of which have been accepted positively by Costa Rican youths. There are metal bands, includingGrecco, Advent of Bedlam, Corpse Garden, Catarsis Incarne, and Heresy.
The rock bands begins a new standard to CR's music with bands such as Time's Forgotten, Pneuma and Sight of Emptiness making really high albums and concerts. The international community starts to take a look at Costa Rica where bands such as Time's Forgotten plays in BajaProg (Rock Festival) and have several reviews in the best progressive magazines, sites, and radios. For example, Dividing Line put the album "Dandelion" between the best 15 album in the 2009.
Costa Rica has become a centerfold for international Rock and Metal concerts. Bands such as:Deep Purple,Aerosmith,Anthrax,Red Hot Chili Peppers,Pearl Jam,Cannibal Corpse,Apocalyptica,Arch Enemy,Green Day,Helloween,Rhapsody Of Fire,Epica,Nightwish, had come to play in the country, as well as international singers and musicians likePaul McCartney andCarlos Santana.
It became better with the coming ofIron Maiden back in 2008 for theSomewhere Back in Time World Tour, according to sponsors and theFlight 666 documentary, the concert held in Costa Rica was the largest in Central America, with over 27,000 attendants. With that concert, Costa Rica is now becoming an important stop for Metal bands. Examples of this areMetallica,Megadeth,Slayer,Judas Priest,Black Sabbath andOpeth.
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 withjazz and rock and has met great success in Costa Rica and surrounding countries. Cantoamerica is a band led by Manuel Monestel that for many years has developed research and promotion of the music of the Costa Rican Caribbean coast. Calypso music and other Caribbean sounds are included in the band's repertoire. Cantoamerica has traveled all over the world as ambassador of Afro Costa Rican music.
For all the fanfare 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).
Costa Rica's music also includeship hop,reggae,dancehall andelectronic. Such artists asToledo,Crypy 626,Tiko305,Huba,Gtermis (Ragga by Roots),Tapon,Shel,Gonin,Banton y Ghetto, Kike, Tinez, Original Warrior Street Reggae Artist, Poeta,Mr Pray,Jahricio,Rude Boy, Talawa Reggae Army,DJ P,Zion [Producer],Killa [Producer],aRNine [Producer],Chino Artavia,Rooper Francheschi,Kastro305 [Producer],Bloke, DJ Arturo Morales, DJ Cole, DJ accion, DJ Juan, DJ Gerarld, DJ action,Marfil (group),Moonlight Dub Xperiment (group) have a hip hop, reggae, electronic influence in their music. Starting in the mid-1990s Costa Rican hip hop and reggae culture has grown. Artist Tapon and group Ragga by Roots were the most famous artists in the late 1990s with hits such as "Creada a mi manera" by Tapon and "Jump to the sound" by Ragga by Roots.
Costa Rica also has a youth symphony orchestra, founded by ex-PresidentJosé 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 soloist 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 youth symphony orchestra Debut in 1970. "La niña violinista del Taburete" was how newspapers used to refer to 4-year-old violin "Concertina Ana Gabriela Castro-Rosabal". This affectionate title, was given due to the fact, that she was so small, that she used a wooden box, made by her father Enrique, to rest her feet. The wooden box, became the "symbol" of how young this talented girl was.
Classical music performing organizations include theCosta Rican NationalSymphony Orchestra (formed in 1970), which has been conducted by Americans Gerald Brown andIrwin Hoffman, followed by the JapaneseChosei Komatsu. In 2014,Carl. St. Clair assumed the position as music director.[3] 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 NationalUniversity, Universidad Nacional, has a resident string quartet and aSymphony Orchestra, which had its very successful premiere at the National Theatre in San José on May 10, 2007, conducted byDieter Lehnhoff. It has also a highly successful piano school led by the Russian virtuoso, Alexandr Sklioutovsky. Other well-known groups are theEl Café Chorale and theSura Chamber Choir[2] and also the pianist Ismael Pacheco, who was the first Costa Rican pianist to have been performed at the prestigiousCarnegie Hall in 2001 and also at theMusikverein in 2007.[4]
Both the Universidad de Costa Rica (UCR), in San José, and the Universidad Nacional (UNA), inHeredia, have well-structured programmes in Music, where students can pursue bachelor's degrees in instrumental and vocal performing,composition, andconducting. 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 theFantasía 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.
