The ashes of one of Mexico's most cherished singers will be spread among the sand, ocean and pleasant breeze of Playas del Coco, province of Guanacaste. Isabel Vargas Lizano, better known as “The Voice of Mexico” or Chavela, passed away on August 5th, 2012. Part of her ashes have already been spread in the surf off Veracruz, a Mexican coastal town that Chavela loved as much as her native Costa Ric...

Music fans who were disappointed by the announcement that the Caricaco Music Festival would not be held in 2013 will be delighted to know that it is being planned, bigger and better, for March of 2014. Alejandro Gutierrez, producer of the festival, let the Voice of Guanacaste know that the festival will be moved to a new open-air venue at Finca Austria, in Nosara across the river, with the goal...

Nosara will enjoy the third season of the Fish Bar Live Music Sessions, beginning this season on Saturday November 16th starting with dinner at 7:00pm and live music at 7:30pm at Pacifico Azul Guiones. We will be beginning this 2013-2014 season with Thicker Than Thieves, who are on a concert tour through Costa Rica presenting their new album “Storm Will Pass”. This band has a fusion of rock, r...

Donavon Frankenreiter returned to Guanacaste after a two-year absence. Thanks to the Safari Surf School organization and the Billabong program “Surf Like a Pro,” the Californian surfer and musician presented his new album “Start Livin” live, this time at the Tropicana disco bar in Nosara Center in front of 200 people. As soon as the doors opened at around 7:30 p.m., the first fans began arriv...

Best Fest is a 3 day (February 7th - 9th, 2014) grassroots music festival nestled between pristine jungle and one of the most beautiful beaches in Costa Rica, Playa Ballena. The organizers routinely say that their location is one of the headliners of the festival and for good reason. The epic venue is located on a 2000 acre farm, just south of Uvita, and is a one of a kind environment where w...

As part of the anniversary celebrations, on November 15 the 25 de Julio Orchestra will perform at the inauguration of the new Briceño Leonidas School facilities. The Sinem Music School of Nicoya was founded in October of 2008 and despite limited economic resources, it has managed to survive and consolidate during its five years of existence. Currently the school is hosted in the Casa de la C...

The Ministry of Culture and Youth (Ministerio de Cultura y Juventud), through the National System of Music Education (Sistema Nacional de Educación Musical), is promoting a music program in which the stars are disabled. This program is called Música con Accesibilidad Para Todos (Music With Accessibility For All) and gives the physically challenged population the possibility of a musical educati...

Singer-songwriter and pro-surfer Donavon Frankenreiter is returning to Nosara in November after a two year absence and will be performing a concert Nov. 8 at the Tropicana. Frankenreiter will be in the local waters as part of the “Surf With a Pro” program sponsored by Billabong at the affiliated Safari Surf School. He and his musical partner Matt Grundy will offer an acoustic show featuring som...

The National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica was included in the list of nominees for the 2013 Latin Grammy Awards. The nomination corresponds to a composition on the disc Symphonic Bossa Nova (video below of live performance), which ran in the category of best contemporary classical composition, thanks to Abertura Jobiniana composed by Rafael Piccolotto of Lima, in which the orchestra is dir...

This is a guest article from MetalSucks.net. That Sight of Emptiness are from Costa Rica is certainly an interesting footnote — they’ve managed to garner quite a bit of worldwide attention despite geographic isolation from the international metal scene — but their music stands quite well on its own regardless. We’ve had our eye on these guys since 2010, and it’s great to see them not just s...

September is a special month for children in Costa Rica, and the celebrations continue on Thursday 26th and Friday 27th as the National Symphonic Orchestra, directed by special guest conductor Emannuel Olivieri, will perform classical arrangements of music from video games. The concerts will start at 10:00 a.m. in the Melico Salazar Theater in downtown San Jose. Classical music purists and snob...

With younthful spirit, University week started on Monday, September 2 and runs through Friday, September 6 at the Nicoya campus of the National University (UNA) . The university invites the general public to enjoy the dances, concerts, sports events and theater workshops. On Tuesday, the performances of several folkloric dance groups delighted the audience at the kiosk located next to the campu...

Source: WIkimedia Commons Although Canadian heartthrob Justin Bieber has not included Costa Rica on the itinerary of his Believe World Tour, that is not stopping young Ticas from doing whatever they can to ensure they do not miss their idol. According to Melvin Molina of La Nacion, if the Bieber does not come to Costa Rica, Ticas will go to the Bieber. The Believe World Tour is only the sec...

Along with headliner Slightly Stoopid, Jungle Jam 2014 will host Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk, Nicki Bluhm & The Gramblers, Oteil Burbridge, Max Creek, The Expendables, Kung Fu, Zach Deputy, Ryan Montbleau Band and dopapod. Plus more. Always more. Scheduled for Jan. 16-19 in Jaco, Costa Rico, Jungle Jam will take place at the DoceLunas Resort Hotel, the festival’s home since 2011. Jungle Jam...

Eight groups and soloists will participate this year in the Credomatic Music Festival. There are three in particular that no one should miss: the Juvenile Accordion Orchestra of Baden Württemberg, the organist Martin Arndt Henzelmann, and the violinist Gidon Kremer. These artists count with indisputable recognition and are the highlights of the music festival, which will take place between ...

A Friday afternoon at 11 am hardly sounds like the perfect time for an Afro-Cuban Jazz show and hosting it at the Public Library in Limon makes it sound even less perfect. Electrical storms and heavy rains had closed schools and caused flooding that morning. But against all odds the Joel La Rue Smith Trio, played a captivating set to the 30 or so people who came to be a part of Costa Rica’s 2013 I...

Gogol Bordello live in Athens. Source: Wikimedia Commons What do a gypsy punk band from New York and an eclectic Texas ensemble that mixes ska with Indian tones and a splash of psychedelia have in common? Both may have been inspired by their experiences in Costa Rica. First up we have Gogol Bordello, a band that played in the eclectic and epic Festival Imperial 2012. Their latest album, Pur...

A still from Odyssey 2050 One of the most popular contemporary music bands in the world has agreed to contribute one of their videos to the film Odyssey 2050, an ambitious project being produced right here in Costa Rica. Odyssey 2050 aims to raise awareness among young generations about the effects of climate change. The video in question is Viva La Vida, which is also the title track of Coldpl...

Cuban singer-songwriter Silvio Rodriguez will perform a concert on April 12 in Costa Rica's Ricardo Saprissa Stadium, after 23 years of absence from the national scene, the organizers reported here today. According to companies Ariel Rivas Entertainment and Evenpro, Rodriguez, composer of over 500 songs, will arrive in Costa Rica with a team of about 25 people, including eight musicians who wil...

Lady Gaga played the "biggest show" ever staged in Costa Rica. The 'You and I' singer brought her 'Born This Way Ball' to the Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica stadium in San Jose on Saturday night and was told it was the most attended concert in the history of the Central American country. She wrote on her twitter page: "In Costa Rica tonight for stadium show. Thank you so much to everyone for...

A new music festival that will bring world class musicians and rising stars together on one stage has been born in the southern pacific zone of Costa Rica. The first annual Best Fest promises to be an amazing event featuring musical genres such as reggae, latin, jazz, rock, blues, and more performed by bands from Costa Rica and the United States. The Best Fest invites audiences of all ages to expe...

Evanescence will perform live in Costa Rica for the first time. The amazing voice of Amy Lee accompanied by the sound of the Evanescence band will rock Estadio Ricardo Saprissa in Tibás. Evanescence is an American rock band founded back in 1995 in Little Rock, Arkansas. The group consisted singer/pianist Amy Lee and guitarist Ben Moody. After many single releases, Evanescence released t...

Don't forget to check out all of the previous articles published by The Costa Rica Star on Samsung mobile products in Costa Rica! EVENT: 80′s AWESOME FEST! WHEN: September 8th – 4:00pm WHERE: Estadio Saprissa, San José, Costa Rica If you ever wish you grew up in the 80′s… you will have one night to experience (or re-live) those good old days. Samsung presents Costa Rica with a blas...

Costa Rica-based melodic metal band SIGHT OF EMPTINESS will embark on a European tour in August with support from BENEATH, OPHIDIAN I, ATRUM, ANGIST, GRUESOME GLORY (Iceland), REIGN OF FURY, REFLECTION IN EXILE (UK), DAMAGE MY GOD, SPEED DEMON (Portugal) and THE NAIL, CHICKEN PIE (SPAIN). SIGHT OF EMPTINESS will be playing Bloodstock Open Air (BEHEMOTH, DIMMU BORGIR, ALICE COOPER, TESTAMEN...

The Witness Matlou Trio—a Berklee student group signed to the college's label, Jazz Revelation Records—was invited by the Centro Cultural Costarricense Norteamericano (CCCNCR) to perform at the Promising Artists of the 21st Century performance series in San Jose, Costa Rica, July 23 to 30. For over 65 years, organizers have brought talented students from prestigious universities in the United Stat...

Tonight, people around the world will plug into their portable listening devices, simultaneously press play to a pre-set, universal playlist and dance together throughout various cities. The New Orleans edition of the Global Floating Dance Party will start in Lafayette Square at 10:00pm, make its way to Harrah’s Casino at 10:30pm, and end at the steps of the state Supreme Court on Royal Street in ...

Costa Rica-based melodic metal band SIGHT OF EMPTINESS will support AT THE GATES on July 21st at Pepper's Club in San Jose, Costa Rica. Commented SIGHT OF EMPTINESS singer Eduardo Chacón: "Chills, goosebumps and lots of great memories...supporting At the Gates in my country? What an honor! They are one of the main reasons why Sight of Emptiness actually exist. The progenitors of the Gothenb...

The Rock al Parque (Rock in the Park) festival in Bogota, the biggest free music fest in Latin America, turns 18 on Saturday in the Colombian capital and for three days will feature 17 international bands and dozens of local ones. Santiago Trujillo, director of the Idartes art institute, told Efe that the first day "will be dedicated to classics of rock, heavy metal and hardcore, the second day...

Quattro, among others, will play Credomatic’s 22nd music festival from August 4th -19th. The music will be ringing this year from various different venues throughout Costa Rica. In addition to the concerts, there will also be workshops held for aspiring musicians. Though the final program has yet to be decided, the group everyone is talking about is Quattro. The U.S. Latin, Jazz, pop fusion ban...

According to an article in digital newspaper Costa Rica Hoy, American pop queen Lady Gaga's concert in Costa Rica has been officially confirmed. Juan Carlos Bonilla, a spokesperson for the the Sports Institute of Costa Rica (ICODER in Spanish) confirmed the rumor, which in Costa Rica began as speculation and hearsay, only to progress to the status of a news leak on Facebook earlier this week. The...

Sight of Emptiness is a melodic metal band from Costa Rica that recently wrapped up recording of their third album, which has yet to be titled. The album was recorded at SoloHits Recording Studios in San Jose, and Swedish Producer Thomas "Plec" Johansson traveled to Costa Rica to work with the band for about three weeks. Mr. Johansson has previously worked with other renowned metal acts like Scar...

A recent article by concert promoter Eddie Cota in the Huffington Post, entitled "Costa Rica Turns Up the Music", looked at the musical presentations during this year's International Festival of the Arts (FIA). Mr. Cota is interested in signing musical acts from Central America to play in Los Angeles, where one of the highest concentrations of Central American immigrants reside (but not many T...

Reggae legends The Wailers, Bob Marley's original band, will headline the No Hunting World Music Fest in Costa Rica on Saturday, May 19th at Empire (the old Azotea in La Uruca). This is a special reggae festival supported by the Association for the Preservation of Flora and Fauna (APREFLOFLAS in Spanish), and it seeks to create awareness of a legislative proposal that has been floating in the Nati...

All eyes are on May Day or International Worker's Day tomorrow; after all, there will be elections in the National Assembly in Costa Rica and labor unions are planning massive demonstrations. While the importance of May Day must not be overlooked, the UNESCO has declared today, April 30th of 2012, the inaugural International Jazz Day. In observance of this important day, The Costa Rica Star bri...

Isabel "Chavela" Vargas Lizano was born during the first quarter of the 20th century in San Joaquin de Flores, a coffee-growing region of Heredia that former President Oscar Arias Sanchez calls home. When she was 17 years old, Chavela Vargas left Costa Rica for Mexico, a country where she would not only find fame and glory, but also the deep respect and love of the Mexican people. For the secon...

Hundreds of Tico headbangers were disappointed earlier today when they learned that the Rock N' Roll All Stars presentation, originally scheduled for May 3rd, was canceled due to a disagreement between the American and Costa Rican event organizers. According to Telenoticias 7, Brunca Productions delivered the sad news this morning. The concert would have taken place at the Ricardo Saprissa ...

Don Herman Davis, better known as Daddy Banton, is one of the Tico hip-hop recording artists scheduled to visit the United States in August for a series of live performances. Joining Banton will be DJ P, Masta and Toledo, all from the "Top a Top" hip-hop crew, a music collective that is responsible for most of the rap and dancehall hits in Costa Rica. The Top a Top crew will perform in the ...

Francisco Castillo is a master oboe performer and classical music composer who has toured with Andrea Bocelli and the New West Symphony Orchestra. The world premier of his composition "Rhapsody for Oboe, English Horn, and Orchestra" will be performed by the Redlands Symphony at the University of Redlands Memorial Chapel in California's Inland Empire on April 14. This will be a special perfo...

American musician and columnist Duff Mckagan is better known for his 12-year bass run in the legendary rock band Guns N’ Roses. What few people know is that Mr. McKagan and fellow rock icon Mike McCready, who plays guitar for Seattle-based grunge icons Pearl Jam, have a little bit of Costa Rica history in them. Mr. McKagan grew up in Seattle and knew Mr. McCready from the vibrant rock scene...

On Tuesday, April 3rd, classical music lovers will be treated to a free concert at the Plaza de la Cultura in downtown San Jose. The repertoire today will include Franz Schubert's Symphony No. 8 in B Minor (the Unfinished Symphony) and The Marriage of Figaro by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, among others. The Manuel Maria Gutierrez Symphonic Orchestra (OSMMG or MaMaGu in Spanish) is an ensemble f...