When he passed away unexpectedly on August 29, Fidel Gamboa shocked music fans all over the world and left a void that can never really be mended. The founder, songwriter, guitarist and lead singer of the highly popular Costa Rican band Malpais was honored on November 18 at the National Stadium in west San Jose with a concert by the remaining members of his band and guest musicians such as Bernardo Quesada, Adrian Goizueta, Humberto Vargas, Max Goldenberg, Walter Flores, Cantoamerica, Peregrino Gris, the Nicaraguan rock band Perrozompopo, and the Costa Rica Philharmonic Orchestra throughout the night, including an incredible version of “Historia de Nadie” with Maria Pretiz. The real surprise was the appearance of Ruben Blades, a three-time Grammy Award winning Panamanian musician who was loudly received by the sold-out audience in the stadium. The show continued well past the scheduled two and a half hours, with Fidel’s guitar standing upright in its stand onstage, alone, all night.

     Jaime Gamboa, Fidel’s brother and cofounder of Malpais, stressed the point that the concert was to thank all the band’s supporters throughout the years as well as to pay homage to his brother. “After November, we will continue to be a group of friends from a common past,” he noted, “with a future that has yet to be written”. His rendition of his brother’s composition “Comoun Pajaro” was one of the highlights of the night. Ivan Rodriguez, the band’s multitalented violinist/guitarist/mandolin player handled the vocals on “Es Tan Tarde Ya” and Adrian Goizueta also delivered a wonderful presentation of “Presagio” from the band’s second album. In addition, Bernardo Quesada appeared for the band’s namesake song, “Malpais” from their first album, “Uno”, while Humberto Vargas lent his skills for “Muchacha y Luna” and Pato Barraza sat in on “Otro Lugar”, another song from “Uno”. Arnoldo Castillo contributed to “Contramarea”  and the band did a stirring rendition of “Despertate Guila”, the final song from their last CD, “Hay Ninos Aqui”. Of course, it was a very emotional night for performers and audience alike, who sang along with each and every song. One of the stunning factors for me became the volume of work created by this man in such a short amount of time and the influence he has had on fellow musicians and fans alike.

     The band also took the opportunity to unveil its final album, at least under this incarnation, titled “Siempre” at the show, performing most of the tracks at the concert. They were able to do this because Fidel had recorded the vocal tacks for the songs in the studio and the band was able to complete the instrumental parts for his songs posthumously. A review of this CD will appear in next month’s edition of Quepolandia. I do believe we will see new versions of this band in the future: they had such a strong and positive impact on the Costa Rican music scene and the tight-knit musical relationship between all the members will, I think, make it inevitable for them to continue in some formation. I also believe that whatever the name or formation, this family of friends and musicians will always be under the watchful eye and influence of Fidel Gamboa.

By Jim Parisi

Writing a soundtrack is tricky business. The music needs to compliment the action and images of the movie of the film without being pervasive. It needs to follow the storyline so in this way it is almost like an assignment. And all good musicians want to put their own personal stamp on their music, so it needs to fall into the category of artistic expression as well: no musician wants their work to become wallpaper. This article is a review of the soundtrack of the new Costa Rica movie “El Regreso”; it is not a review of the film, which is wildly popular right now.

Federico Miranda picked up his first guitar with serious intentions at the age of twelve and taught himself to play. In 1993, he formed the popular Costa Rican rock band Gandhi, one of the first of this genre in this country. They have since released four albums and in 2005, Miranda also teamed up with pianist Walter Flores to work on the Baula Project, a fusion quartet who dedicated this album to the preservation of the leatherback turtle.

Moving in a new artistic direction, Federico scored the music for this soundtrack, then brought together ten musicians to begin recording it under the name Banda Sonora. Sr. Miranda plays acoustic and electric guitars on the soundtrack, as well as programmed keyboards. The band consists of Guier Abel on bass guitar, piano, the two percussionists Juan Carlos Pardo and Ale Fernandez, violinists Caterina Tellini and Ingrid Solano, Ricardo Ramirez playing viola and Marianela Lamb on cello, making up the string section, along with Jhonathan Mena Jimenez on flute and Jorge Rodriguez Herrera, contributing the horn section. I should point out that six of the twenty-three songs were contributions from six other Costa Rican bands, including Calavera y la Canalla with “Solo Conmigo” from their very popular new album. So, the soundtrack really is an extensive team effort. But the album belongs to Miranda, whose acoustic guitar works is showcased on the gentler numbers on the disc, such as the opening cut, “Chepe Centro” as well as on a variety of other musical vignettes throughout the CD. He worked for hours with filmmaker Hernan Jimenez discussing various scenes and plots of the film before even a single note had been written. The music seems to alternate between soft and up-tempo, giving a kind of pulse to the album and becoming one of the fibers that is the tapestry of “El Regreso”.

Other standout songs on the album include Son de Tikizia performing the Walter Flores composition “Jugaste con mi Destino” and the title song, “El Regreso”. I also really liked the two bonus tracks at the end of the disc.  

It is no surprise that Papaya Music is distributing the CD, as one of their goals is to display to the world the great array of Costa Rican music. This CD, containing more than one hour of variety of Costa Rican music, fits right into that philosophy and is an excellent addition to anyone’s music collection.

By Jim Parisi

What do you get when you combine eleven musicians from Costa Rica, Cuba, Colombia and El Salvador who create a fusion sound of reggae, cumbia and funk, then let them tour Europe? If you ask the musicians of Sonambulo, they will tell you that the result is a new style of music that they call “psicotropical”, a catchy phrase for their very infectious music. The band’s first album, “A Puro Peluche”, was released in January 2009 with a lot of positive acclaim and little distribution. It was reissued in 2010 and promptly won the ACAM Best Tropical Album award.

Getting heard is always a problem for any independent performer, no matter how good or popular you might be. But the Costa Rican label Papaya Music has recognized the talent of this band and has decided to include them in their catalog, which could be the break, the springboard, this band deserves. Sonambulo actually began as a music project five years ago, evolved and influenced from the street circus performances, Magos del Tiempo, in an effort to amalgamate social and environmental causes in a musical score that combines traditional and modern Latin and African beats into a creative new sound. The music definitely has all that and a carney, gypsy feel to it as well. I also hear a Middle Eastern influence and jazz roots as well, and yes, a little Rock & Roll, too. The result is truly global music, as can be heard in all thirteen songs on the album. Of the eleven musicians, there are three horn players, a keyboardist, and electric bass and guitarists, with the five other musicians supplying a wall of percussion, which often directs the sound of the band. I also find it interesting to have five members contributing vocals, throwing another variety of sounds into the mix. It’s hard to put a label on their sound (except psicotropical); it reminds me at different times of many styles, embracing them all, with a myriad of tempo breaks running rampant throughout the album. And the music is certainly danceable. Through all the creativity of this nearly hour-long disc, it is obvious that these guys are enjoying themselves.

Standout songs on the album include “Zona Roja”, led by the funky bass playing of Tito Fuentes and “Jabali Montuno”, with the reggae influenced guitar of David Cuenca. The title song, “A Puro Peluche” has a Trance beat that is hypnotic, with the excellent keyboard playing (and all throughout the album, really) of Manu Davila. “Animal” is another notable, original song on the album, along with “Chusma Funk”, two songs that defy conventional terms, helping to define the new psicotropical category.

The band has just completed a twenty-five date tour of Europe in a six week span, helping to confirm their global appeal. They are now reportedly working on their second CD and I, for one, am anxious to hear it. Papaya Music has been promoting new local talent for some time and combined with their recent release of the CD by Lucho Calavera yla Canallaand now Sonambulo, they are well represented by modern, Twenty-First Century Costa Rican music.

By Jim Parisi

Putumayo Music recently took a step away from its customary formula of regional and stylistic compilation albums to give us a tribute to the music of one man, the great reggae progenitor Bob Marley. Few people have made the kind of lasting, universal impact that Bob Marley has made with his music. In his short 36 years, Marley managed not only to introduce hundreds of millions to reggae but also spread powerful messages of peace, love, human rights and acceptance. It’s no surprise that almost 30 years after his death, one can travel to any part of the globe and witness his far-reaching musical legacy. A number of the twelve tracks were recorded specifically for this disc. But it opens strongly with something that already existed: Three Plus’s convincing “Jahwaiian” fusion version of “Is This Love.” And it remains inHawaiifor singer Robi Kahakalau’s cool, smooth take on the seldom heard “Do It Twice.”

The California band Rebelution delivers “Natural Mystic” with an authentic beat and an evocative, echo sound but, sadly, accompanied by seemingly uninspired vocals. And thin-voiced French-Canadian singer Caracol disappoints on “Could You Be Loved”—maybe it’s a style I just don’t get, but she sounds to me like a half-baked Nelly Furtado. More surprisingly, Céu also comes off strangely listless in “Concrete Jungle.” I guess you’ve either got Rasta in your blood or you don’t; it’s something that is often mimicked but not easily replicated. The Canadian band Northern Lights, on the other hand, perform a completely non-reggae version of “Waiting in Vain”, transforming it into a refreshing, acoustic folk track that listeners would have no idea was written by Marley if it was presented by itself.

Things pick up with Rocky Dawuni’s West African/island fusion sounds, and even more so when the South African Freshlyground bangs out their bright, driving Afro-fusion version of the anthem “Africa Unite,” really making the song their own, demonstrating their signature mix of African folk, kwela and jazz. And ultimately, the disc turns out to be a pretty good demonstration of how different styles can be bent and blended to adapt Marley’s hypnotic, singable, danceable songs, which are so closely identified with his own voice and sensibility. Northern Lights applies a dense American folk feel to “Waiting in Vain,” Julie Crochetière’s languid, sexy “Mellow Mood” has a vaguely European flair, and Funkadesi’s tricky rhythms and Indian/island stew form a unique style, though it didn’t totally grab me here.

The CD closes with two solid tracks. “No Woman No Cry,” from the collective calledSierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars, a group of refugees displaced toGuineaduring theSierra Leonecivil war. The group genuinely displays the heart of Marley’s “we’re all one” message. And the one-time ensemble Playing for Change is a truly international collective that unites stars like Keb’ Mo’ and Manu Chao with street musicians from all over the world. Their “One Love” makes for a beautiful good-night, a “We Are the World” without the showboating and hype. Good feelings all around. That’s the spirit of this uneven but overall quite worthwhile disc.

By Jim Parisi

Nearly all music is a melting pot, a new image of its influences and predecessors. In Central America, Garifuna music is unique in that it is a blend of African and indigenous music without any influence from the European cultures that became dominant in all the Americas. The offspring of the indigenous Awarak tribe and African slaves who survived from two sinking slave ships, the Garifuna have always preferred an isolated existence. As these people enter the Twenty-first Century and near extinction, Ivan Duran and Stonetree Records in Belize have undergone painstaking labors to at least preserve the music by recording it. Likewise, a spin-off of Garifuna music came into existence around the middle of the seventeenth century when Spanish guitar and musical styles lent themselves as a variation on Garifuna music, and a style called Paranda was born.


Ever vigilant to preserve disappearing Central American musical genres, Stonetree has released a compilation CD called, quite simply, “Paranda”. The lineup of musicians is, in itself, a revealing portrayal of this fading musical style. Most of the performers on this disc are getting on in their years, with very few students left to carry the torch. Paul Nabor, who is featured several times on the Paranda disc, is a religious leader in Punta Gorda, the small village in Southern Belize where he resides. He is also seventy-two years old and the last living Parandero there. Garbaga Williams was exuberant about having his songs preserved. He explained that due to his arthritis he could no longer play guitar, that his friend Dale Guzman would play his songs. Since the recording of the CD, Garbaga has passed away. Tall and thin, Jursino Cayetano, 60, is one of ten children and the last living Parandero fromGuatemala. And Junie Aranda, at the age of 57, is one of the youngest of the living Paranda legends. Aranda was born and raised in Dangriga, the largest Garifuna center in Belize. The last musician there to play Paranda music, he is teaching it to his son. And there is a new generation of Garifunas who are eager to learn the music. But the number of torchbearers keeps dwindling.

The music on the CD is the result of two years of research, traveling and recording on Duran’s part, to small Garifuna villages spread throughout Belize, Honduras and Guatemala. The percussion comes from handmade drums, shakers, turtle shells and conches with a definite, distinguishable West African style to it. As with traditional Garifuna lyrics, the subject matter of the songs deal with local events, from the death of an aging sister to, as Junie Aranda describes them, the “getting back songs”. When someone in Dangriga crosses his path, he writes a song about it. In no time, everyone in town hears about the neighbor who owes Junie money or a former employer who did him an injustice. The songs all have a very personal texture to them, especially the laments. You can almost hear Paranda singing its last breath.

Since its inception eighteen years ago, Putumayo Music has blazed a reputation for being outside the box. These are the guys who invented the term “World Music”, offering compilation discs of music by musicians from the same country or region or from all over the globe, playing a similar style of music. With more than one hundred albums under their belt, Putumayo has now endeavored into a new genre (for them), entitled simply “Rhythm and Blues”. The album is a collection of classic R&B songs performed alternately by legends and by novices, rising stars of the current R&B revival. And the formula works like a charm.

The album opens with R&B goddess Lavelle White singing “I’ve Never Found a Man to Love”, a song popularized by Esther Phillips and a great launching pad for this project. Lavelle began her career inHoustonin the late Fifties alongside such luminaries as Bobby “Blue” Bland, Junior Parker, Albert Collins and Big Mama Thornton. The song was co-written by Eddie Floyd and Booker T. Jones and is a wonderful vehicle to showcase Lavelle’s soulful voice.

First up for the novices in this compilation is Londoner James Hunter performing “’Til Your Fool Comes Home”, accompanied on piano by New Orleans renaissance man Allen Toussaint. After playingLondonclubs for years, Hunter got his break when Van Morrison saw him perform, helped him get a recording deal and even performed on James’ first album. This particular song displays Hunter’s adept guitar phrasing. Other impressive cuts by the new wave of R&B artists include “Sweet Feeling” by the sax-driven Cracked Ice, and the Gospel tinged “’Cuz I’m Here” by Ruthie Foster, who really belts the tune out.

I got goosebumps the first time I listened to the trio Sam Moore, Keb’ Mo and Angie Stone doing “Wang Dang Doodle”. I thought it took a lot of guts to record the signature song of two blues legends: Willie Dixon and Howlin’ Wolf. But they definitely pulled it off. But then,Mooreis half of the iconic duo Sam & Dave, Angie is entrenched in the new R&B movement and Keb’ Mo is, well, he’s Keb’ Mo. It’s a nice example of the R&B torch being passed from one generation to the next.

Other standout numbers on the disc include the final two on this compilation: Rockie Charles doing “Before I Find the Right Girl for Me”, and Irma Thomas singing the John Fogerty song “River Is Waiting”. The self-proclaimed “President of Soul”, singer/songwriter/guitarist Rockie Charles has been a mainstay in theNew Orleansmusic scene for more than forty years, backing such luminaries as Earl King as well as leading his own band, The Gauges. His contribution to this CD is from his newest album, “Born for You’. Irma Thomas has been recording for more than a half century and she’s seen it all: dubbed “The Soul Queen ofNew Orleans” in the Sixties, she had a resurgence in the Eighties and received a Grammy in 2006 for her album “After the Rain”. This selection is from her follow-up album, “Simply Grand” and it simply is.

It’s nice to see Putumayo spread its wings and regale its listeners with such a treasure trove of musical gems and new blood. I can’t wait for their “Rhythm and Blues, Vol2” disc!

Romulo Castro, Herencia

By Jim Parisi

Although he was born in Mexico, Romulo Castro’s parents are Panamanian and he was raised in Cuba. He “came home” to Panama in the late Seventies but his collage of musical tastes had already been firmly put into place, both in his ears and in his soul. That multi-cultural embrace comes across strongly in his album “Herencia”, which he recorded with his nine piece band, Tuira. The CD is a blend of bossa nova, samba, rock and Panamanian folkloric music, all with a pronounced Caribbean backbone. His band is comprised of guitars and bass, keyboards and horns and an array of indigenous percussion. If this sounds like a potpourri, it is, but it is also anything but garbled. “Herencia” is Castro’s fourth CD and the twelve selections arrive like individual entrees rather than a mixed stew.

At times the music is reminiscent of the style of Guillermo Anderson from Honduras, and that is a good thing. Like Anderson, Romulo has a sweet voice that is complimented by the musical styles which he interweaves around it. The band members are an interesting cultural mix as well. Keyboardist and arranger Luis Thomas has worked with an array of artists from Ruben Blades to Air Supply. Percussionist Tony Martinez has also worked with Blades and with Sting. Kansas transplant Marco Linares plays guitar and adds background vocals, while Cuban transplant Wichy Lopez is a horn master, playing trumpet, flugelhorn, flute and sea conchas. A veteran of half a dozen Panama bands, Germain “Sparks” Dawson handles the heavy bass. Dino Nugent is the musical director and arranger. He is Panamanian, trained in Brazil, and adds keyboards on a few songs, too. Reynaldo Cruz and Guillermo Franco play a small army of percussion instruments. It’s an extensive entourage and each player brings their own flavor to the mix.

Castro is meticulous in his work: his first album, “Amor a Medias” was released in 2001, his second, “Travesias” in 2003 and his third, “Palabra de Cantada” in 2006. He spent about two years in preproduction for “Herencia”, writing songs and assembling the band, scouting recording studios and labels, graphic artists and the like. A total of about forty persons were used in the entire production of the disc. Standout songs on the album include “Amor en el Tiempo de Colera”, an airy, Caribbean sound with a Gabriel Garcia Marquez title. Que romantico! I also like “Estoy en el Puertomarte Sin Hilda”, with its slick, swingy, big band sound, and “Otra Cancion de Amor”, a straight-ahead rocker…

All the songs were written by Romulo. It was produced and recorded in Panama, mastered in Puerto Rico and distributed on Castro’s own independent label, Naranja Studios. The album has an impressive list of guest artists, no less than twelve horn players and eight percussionists, giving the final product an overall full sound. The disc is available at Jaime Peligro book store in Playa Tamarindo, where they will gladly play the music for their customers.

By Jim Parisi

Lucho Calavera and his band La Canalla recorded their entire debut album “Ni Pa’ Que Te Cuento” in the Papaya Music Studio in Alajuela in just two and a half months, an incredible, very efficient accomplishment. Then they spent nearly a year crafting and polishing their model. A band that has a reputation for enjoying themselves onstage, including live dancers as part of their entourage, became very serious in the studio, expanding the band from five players to nine, to include more percussion and a horn section, further indication of the scope of their vision. That vision is initiated by singer/songwriter Lucho Calavera, the altered ego of Luis Arena, who has been in the Costa Rica music scene for some time. He recorded two albums in the late Nineties with El Parque, the second CD on the Sony Music Label. They were the first Costa Rican band to air a video on MTV Latino. He then went solo, working on projects with other local bands, most notably Evolucion. He also sat in with Soda Stereo, a popular band from Argentina. Arena then relocated to Madrid, evolving musical influences and his pseudonym, with gypsy bravado wrapped around it.

The album is impossible to categorize into a single, specific style: a polished blend of funk, fusion, cumbia, flamenco, Creole, ska, reggae, pop, rock, even cha-cha. Any band making music combining all these styles and a little Arabic slang is making a clear statement: “I do what I want”. In every breakout musical movement, there comes a beacon, a style to emulate. And Calavera y la Canalla, with “Ni Pa’ Que Te Cuento” could be just that – a new album that can put modern Costa Rican music on the global musical map.

The CD opens with “Chico Calavera”, an autobiographical song that also explains the “don’t try to tell me how to do it” philosophy of the entire band. “Solo Conmigo” continues that scoundrel voice, this time alternately in Spanish and English (they do what they want). “Contracorriente” is included in the new Papaya CD “Costa Rica Reggae Nights 2” and for a good reason. The song “Amor Bendito” is an homage of Lucho’s love for Costa Rica. Other standout songs include “Babylon” and “Luna Triste” and I like the short instrumental “El Camino”. All the songs are fleshed out very well by the band, giving them another dimension.

Rock and Roll overnight sensations simply do not exist. The Beatles, for example, played strip clubs in Hamburg before they were finally discovered with their “new” sound. While it appears that Lucho and the band have just arrived on the scene, they have obviously paid their dues. “I’ve waited ten years or perhaps all my life to make this album,” he explained. It has been worth the wait for his audience.

La Calavera y la Canalla and all Papaya CDs are available at the Jaime Peligro book stores in Playa Tamarindo, Quepos and Tilaran, where they will gladly sample the music for their customers.

Reggae music has become a global phenomenon, cast into public awareness forty years ago by musicians like Johnny Nash, Bob Marley and Peter Tosh. But the music remains Caribbean in temperament.

In 1995, the young Costa Rican music label Papaya Music released “Costa Rica Reggae Night”, an excellent compilation of authentic Reggae music from the Caribbean coast of this country. It is a compilation of thirteen songs from well known Costa Rican bands, both past and present; it was a kind of history of notable reggae bands from this area. The album has been a big hit, selling more than fifteen thousand copies in just ten years, a remarkable feat for an independent Central American label.

Papaya has decided it is time to release a second album in this vein, appropriately titled “Costa Rica Reggae Night 2”. The album is a great follow-up to the first CD and picks up where it left off, with some new conceptual twists. Many of the songs were recorded and compiled during October and November of last year; this new disc is an excellent showcase of current Costa Rican bands and how Reggae has been embraced globally and woven into other musical fabric, including ska, electronica, cumbia, dub and even punk music, along with conventional Latin rhythms.

The album opens with “Danger” by the Kingo Lovers, a popular band from San Jose who has amassed a large fan base during their four years together. The second song is “A Queen Is” by the band Unity, which was formed by Sergio Camacho, who has been in the Costa Rican Reggae scene for some time now. His original band, Native Culture, appeared on the first Reggae Night compilation. Other standouts on the disc include Huba & Silica, performing “Rockin’” from their 2009 album “El Origin de las Especies” and Sulalakaska, from Heredia, doing “Ayer Triste Hoy Feliz” from their album “Mummy Fingers”. The band, whose name means “paradise” in the indigenous bri-bri, are proud of their community mindedness, performing at many benefits for social causes, including a concert in 2006 to aid Caribbean peoples effected by Hurricane Katrina. This is a band that boldly goes where no band has gone before, blending ska, punk, cumbia and yes, even meringue into their reggae stew for their own, unique sound. I also like these guys because they do a tribute to legendary calypsonian Walter Ferguson, one of my all-time heroes.

Another new band on this compilation worth checking out is Moonlight & Huba, a group who mixes reggae dub with electronica, all with an environmental message. Very Twenty-First Century. Appropriately, the song on this album is “Global Warming”. The band was founded by bassist Gabo Davila, originally from the popular band Mekatelyu, who were also featured on the first Reggae Nights CD. Moonlight has recorded two CDs, “Biodub” in 2009, which came packaged with seeds for planting, and the new disc “Se Caliente” which was released last month.

In all, twelve bands are represented on the new album, which was produced by Yazmin Ross, one of the founders of Papaya Music. The result is a great barometer of the breadth Costa Rican reggae has reached, revealing new talent and the evolution of some popular local musicians. Costa Rica Reggae Night 2 has the possibility to succeed beyond its predecessor and is a great addition to anyone’s music collection. It is available, along with Papaya’s entire catalogue, at the Jaime Peligro book stores in Quepos, Tamarindo and Tilaran.

Max Urso is a busy guy, a tireless visionary. He started his recording studio and label, Costa Norte Records, in San Pedro Sula, Honduras in 1998, after hearing a rough cassette tape of Honduran singer/songwriter Guillermo Anderson performing and perceived a real need for a recording studio in the country. Both Guillermo and Garifuna singer Aurelio Martinez were recently included in the Central American Music Box CD, a compilation album demonstrating the musical diversity of this region. It is an accomplishment that all three of them are very proud about and happy to be a part of.

Max is now building a new recording studio “from scratch” and is hoping it will be ready in the near future. The new studio is also in San Pedro and will actually be next door to his house there, so when inspiration arrives, he will not have far to walk! He is also keeping the original name: Tarantula Studios. Sr. Urso already has plans to record the premier albums for two young, very talented local singer/songwriters, Rodrigo Cervantes and twenty-four year old phenom Sonny Moran, who is already receiving notice for his single “Misterio”. Sr. Urso also informed me of a new Guillermo Anderson CD in the works for 2011, his twelfth in as many years for Costa Norte. Guillermo is the label’s best known artist, with fans all over the world. It looks like Urso’s new recording studio will be busy as soon as its doors open.

Max Urso was a member of Khaos, the second Rock ‘n Roll band to form in Central America. He now plays in The Khaoticos, who have the distinction of being the only Central American group to be invited to play on “Strummer”, a tribute CD to The Clash. The band has been steadily recording new material and they would like to have enough material and time to record a new CD (their third) this year, too. Urso is also very proud to have had the opportunity to work with Joey Ramone, on a record Max produced in New York more than a decade ago for an Italian band called Senzabenza. He should be very proud of what he has created at Costa Norte Records, too.

We talked about how musical influences fail to recognize manmade borders, how musical styles like calypso and Garifuna have equal influences up and down the Caribbean, regardless of the name of the country. Certainly, both these styles of music that stretch along the entire eastern shoreline of Central America are well represented on the Costa Norte label. I know that one of Urso’s goals is for the music of Honduras and of all Central America to be heard on a further reaching scope.

So, now Costa Norte is a teenager! Max’s new recording studio should help the musical styles here to get the recognition they deserve. It may also serve as an incentive for musicians outside the area to come to Honduras to record, creating a whole new level of interplay. And that can only be a good thing for everyone involved. Happy birthday Costa Norte!