Band to Play October 10 at UNA in Nicoya
COSTA RICA EXTRA — By Roberto Acuña Ávalos, Vozdeguanacaste — Historically the canton of Nicoya has been an exporter of marimba players and folk singers, but now the members of Solinaje want fusion rock to be part of the Colonial City’s musical offerings.
The young group released their song Pensamientos towards the end of September, which they hope will spread across the peninsula and excite Ticos with music: Made in Guanacaste.
“We want to move Nicoya’s musical identity forward. There are a lot of people who think that in Nicoya there is only traditional or chola music [a mix between traditional and other styles]. That’s fine, but we want people to know there is more than that,” said the group’s drummer, Ricardo Caravaca.
In addition to playing drums, Caravaca wrote the song Pensamientos, which can be downloaded from the Soundcloud platform at: https://soundcloud.com/soulinaje/pensamientos
“It was a song that was born in my room. I had a lot of thoughts going through my head, special personal feelings that I was experiencing. The great thing about the song is that although I wrote the words, melody and harmony, a lot of my friends added their spirit,” explained the musician.
For his part, Josue Rodriguez, the band’s guitarist and manager, said that they will be working to release their first EP (an album with four or five songs) to distribute their music throughout the country.
“We now have eight original songs, so we are hoping to choose some of them to make an EP. Obviously we want to be well-known, to write a lot [of songs], but the main thing for us is that every song touches peoples’ hearts,” said the guitarist.
From the Start
Although Solinaje’s music does not explicitly refer to God, they came together as a group about a year and half ago during services at an evangelical church.
The band started with Josue Rodriguez on lead guitar, Herbert Zumbado on piano, Andres Gutierrez on bass, Ricardo Caravaca on drums and Jimmy Orozco as the lead singer. Later, the group added Jose Maria Guevara on trumpet, Jose Victor Castillo playing percussion, Romario Lopez on trombone and Jennifer Castillo as the female voice.
According to the band’s manager, the decision to call itself Soulinaje was made based on the word’s definition.
“We decided to call ourselves Soulinaje, because it means ‘the soul’s lineage.’ Lineage is something that you choose, and really we feel chosen because we have this talent,” said Rodriguez.
For now, the band has confirmed a concert at the Nicoya campus of the National University (UNA – Universidad Nacional) for October 10, during which they hope the university students will enjoy their music.
Article first appeared on Costa Rica Extra, reposted with permission
