History & Culture

Costa Rica Music

What is Papaya Music?

Papaya Music is a consortium of musicians, producers and researchers who want to rescue traditional popular composers from oblivion, encourage young people to go back to their roots, inspire new musical forms and ensure that the artists receive fairer remuneration for their work.

Every Papaya Music disc is a celebration, a piece of Central America’s musical identity that brings together traditional and contemporary performers, well-known artists and graphic designers, sound technicians, photographers, researchers and writers to blend music, images, lyrics, information and anecdotes, making each CD a small, unique work of art.

Your purchase of a Papaya Music CD promotes investigation, the search for talent excluded from mainstream distribution channels and the dissemination of unknown and previously unreleased material, and furthers the aspiration of bringing Music from Here together under a single label and a shared ideal.

Babylon

Walter Ferguson reached mythical proportions in the Costa Rican Caribbean. With Babylon he breaks a thirty-year silence to show he is the most important calypsonian in the country.

Tierra Seca

In Guanacaste, the guitar is like a hearth drawing together the different generations. Max and Odilón form part of a musical tradition that has made this region the cradle of Costa Rican folk.

Dr. Bombodee

In the luster of his 84 years, Walter Ferguson recently began to show his music beyond Cahuita and the towns that inspired his calypsos.

Wade in the water

One hundred years of religious hymns and choral singing from the Protestant churches of Limón and San Jose head out from their houses of worship to win over new audiences.

Malpaís

The Costa Rican New Song is well represented by Malpais, a group that takes its name from the most isolated beach on the Nicoya Peninsula, where the road ends.

Mangoré

Piano arrangements of the work of Paraguayan guitarist Mangoré, who played the finest concert halls of Europe and the Americas dressed in the feathers and loincloth of his Guaraní heritage.

La Orquesta de la Papaya

Walter Ferguson reached mythical proportions in the Costa Rican Caribbean. With Babylon he breaks a thirty-year silence to show he is the most important calypsonian in the country.

One pant man

Taking one of Walter Ferguson's most famous songs, Manuel Monestel searches for the secret connection between calypso and the blues.

Miriam Jarquin y Blues Latino

Immortal themes of the Latin American songster, returned and rejuvenated in the blues of Miriam Jarquín and mixed with original pieces by Costa Rican authors.

Calypso Limón Legends

Hosts the legendary voices of calypso singing from Limón, captured through the most beloved songs of the past forty years. This music represents a fortuitous synthesis of calypso and jazz, performed by old Calypsonians along with contemporary urban musicians.

Guanacaste al atardecer

This selection of lounge-style rhytms from renowned Costa Rican and Nicaraguan musicians evokes a sunset mood with a heady, dusk-induced mix.

Al Pie del Balcón: Serenatas Guanacastecas

Accompanied by renown musicians, the golden age of serenades has come to life through the voices of master troubadors from Guanacaste. Romantic music from Costa Rica has been revived by two generations of musicians.

Ray Tico

Ray Tico was part of the Cuban “ Filin ” movement and is a legend in Costa Rican popular music. The intimacy guitar is proof of his great talent as both composer and interpreter of boleros.