Traditional music and dance
In Costa Rica, traditional music is above all an expression of the different regions of the country and takes different forms depending on whether it is played in Guanacaste, Central Valley, Limón or Puntarenas. In Guanacaste, one of the most typical and popular traditional forms are the "bombas", short and cheerful poetic songs, often funny and satirical, written in quatrains and punctuated by "bombas!" shouted at the end of each verse. According to legend, this tradition got its name when, in the past, during celebrations, someone wanted to make a toast and shouted "Bomba!" so that the music would stop and the congregation would listen to it.
This is also where the punto guanacasteco comes from. Considered the country's national dance, it sees women twirling their colorful dresses while the men accompany them by waving red rags in sweeping movements.
Although this music has no words, it is sometimes accompanied by the famous bombas.
The other representative style of the region is the tambito. Like the punto guanacasteco, it is also considered a pillar of national folklore. Its name derives from the tambo, a type of ranch, and although its origin is unknown, it is believed to be descended from the Spanish dance. Some of the great Costa Rican songs are tambitos, like the famous Caballito Nicoyano.
Jesús Bonilla Chavarría (1911 - 1999), an eminent Costa Rican folkloric composer, dedicated much of his work to the province of Guanacaste and its musical traditions as can be heard in Luna liberiana, Pampa or el Hymn de la Annexación de Guanacaste. Most of his works are symphonic in nature and are part of the repertoire of the National Symphony Orchestra.
Anyone who wants to taste the folklore of Guanacaste would be inspired to go to the Fiestas de Liberia where it is at its peak with concerts, dance competitions and much more.
In the Central Valley, European influences are evident in the local music. This is particularly evident in the use of accordion, trumpet, violin and saxophone, as well as in the popularity of rhythms such as the Costa Rican waltz, jota, mazurka and polka - all aesthetics introduced by the succession of European settlers. The Patriótica costarricense, considered the second national anthem (it was written by Manuel María Gutiérrez Flores, who is also the composer of the national anthem) is a good example of a Costa Rican waltz.
The batambas are another typical genre of the region. They are distinguished by their stanza, which is too long for the musical phrase, giving the impression that the singer has to "chase" the rhythm.
The music of the coastal region of Puntarenas is notably marked by styles such as the campera, a lively rhythm played on the guitar, mixing peasant and Creole music and which can be compared to a Colombian cumbia . Puntarenas is also the region of the tonadas, romantic songs full of legends and local celebrations played on guitar, violin and accordion.
The Carnival of Puntarenas usually offers a beautiful panorama of the regional folklore.
In the province of Limón, there are two major influences: Spanish and Afro-Caribbean. It is clearly the most rhythmic region of the country and it is enough to hear a few bars of sinkit, carnival percussion, to be convinced. Another local specialty, the region cultivates its own form of comparsas, mobile groups that play during parades and carnivals. Finally, the cuadrilla, a burlesque form of dance that dates back to the time when slaves imitated the dances of their masters, is also popular in the province.
But if the province of Limón is perceived as the heart of Costa Rican rhythm, it is because it is here that calypso and other Afro-Caribbean rhythms are most present. The reason for this can be found in the late 19th century, when a large number of Jamaican and Caribbean migrants arrived in the region. calypso Limónense has its roots in its Trinidadian cousin, to which local musicians have added a touch of Jamaican mento (the forerunner of ska and reggae dating from the 1940s) for a result as danceable as it is clear and warm. Beyond this festive and smiling aspect, calypso is also a privileged vehicle for social criticism - always full of humor - and the representation of the daily life of the black minority.
Among its most famous performers - called "calypsonians" - is Walter "Gavit" Ferguson, the national icon, considered the king of Costa Rican calypso. Now a centenarian (he was born in 1919), this revered musician has composed some of the most immortal hits - Cabin in the Wata, Callaloo and Carnival Day, to name a few - and has played a major role in making calypso a national heritage.
Walter Ferguson and his signature style are a local pride and joy, and it's no coincidence that you hear so much calypso at Carnaval de Limón. For one week in October, this great festival invites singing, dancing - and calypso, that is - to honor the different communities of the province. It is one of the biggest festivals in the country.
Otherwise, in the whole territory, traditional songs, dances and music are always present during popular and patronal celebrations such as the Fiesta de la Virgen Del Mar in Puntarenas where a flowered boat leads the procession of the Virgin in the Gulf of Nicoya. The occasion of a music festival, fireworks, etc...
Note that the national instrument of Costa Rica is the marimba. It is visible and audible everywhere in the country, animating many parties. Made of wooden strips, this cousin of the xylophone is the result of a marriage between different pre-Columbian and African instruments and can measure up to two meters long. A true national treasure, it was also listed as a UNESCO intangible cultural heritage in 2015.
The instrument is particularly honored during the Santa CruzFiestas, in January in the province of Guanacaste.
Although traditional Costa Rican music is mostly played by amateur groups during popular celebrations, it is worth mentioning a group such as Cantares, which in the 1980s helped popularize Costa Rican folk music among a wide audience.
Classical music
For a country with no tradition in the field or big names - except perhaps the soprano Iride Martínez, who sang with Plácido Domingo - Costa Rica has a rather dynamic and well-endowed institution: the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica. Established in 1970, it has been conducted by such relatively interesting names as American Irwin Hoffman, Japanese Chosei Komatsu and, more recently, Carl. St. Clair (also American), its current musical director.
To hear it perform, head to the National Theater of San José, the largest hall in the country - and the pride of Costa Ricans - classified as a historical monument since 1965.
Popular music
Although no musician has really shone internationally - apart from the singer Chavela Vargas, born in Costa Rica, but identified as Mexican - some musicians count (and have counted) on the local scene. This is notably the case of Taboga Band, which mixes salsa and jazz, or Los Brillanticos, whose feat of arms is to have played with the Cuban star Celia Cruz. There is also the group Editus, which made the reputation of Costa Rican jazz travel around the world, and Malpaís, a group from the Guanacaste region, which became central to the national rock scene by inviting Costa Rican folklore.
Costa Rican popular music has known some turbulent episodes, especially in the 1960s with the Nueva Canción Costarricense movement - a local response to the Nueva Canción Chilena and the Cuban trova - where simple songs (vocals + guitar / verse + chorus) carried strong social and political messages. Later, in the late 1970s and 1980s, Ticos developed an unprecedented craze for chiqui chiqui, a wave of adapting translations of major currents - pop, rock, disco, etc. - by mixing them with calypso. - mixing them with calypso, Colombian cumbia or Dominican merengue. Of this heritage does not remain today much in the compositions of the young generations.
Current music
Maybe it's the botanical diversity of the region that inspires him, but Costa Rica is home to a whole young scene of ambient electronic producers with an often organic and lush aesthetic. The very atmospheric works of Blau Grisenc, Multitud or OVSICORI illustrate these kinds of soundscapes perfectly. More experimental, producers like Raido or the duo Quilting also testify to the great creativity of this new scene.
The country, and especially its capital, also has a very nice indie rock scene, led by Las Robertas, very garage, Cocofunka, more dance-rock or the post-rock of Niño Koi.
