It was by accident that I discovered Manuel Monestel. Earlier this week, I was googling calypso music, a musical tradition brought to Costa Rica by West Indian immigrants, when I ran across the name of Manuel Monestel. He is an ethnomusicologist who has studied the foundation of Calypso music on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica and the afro contribution to Costa Rican music. As I read his profile on National Geographic’s world music section, I wondered if there would be anyway for me to meet him. Another google search later, I found Mr. Monestel’s facebook account. I sent him a message and waited for a reply.
Not an hour later, I received a message from Mr.
Monestel. He is currently a professor at University of Costa Rica and told me
that he would be bringing a group of American study abroad students to the
coast to hear Calypso music, and I was invited! The next day, I got on a bus
and went to Cahuita, a smaller beach city which is touted to be the center of
Afro-Costa Rican culture. After a 30 minute bus ride and 15 minute taxi ride, I
reached the hotel where the local Calypso group was performing.
The group performed for thirty minutes, and their sweet sounds took me to the shores of Jamaica. We, the group of American study abroad students and I, danced the night away. After dancing, I introduced myself to Mr. Monestel, and we talked about his work with Calypso in Costa Rica. He has been a musician since he was a child and became interested in a Calypso and black culture in Costa Rica through a childhood friend. Halfway through the interview, I asked Mr. Monestel if Calypso music was ‘dead.’ Over the past 20 years, reggae has arisen as the new musical staple of the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica, while calypso groups have begun to disappear. To my surprise, he responded “No, music never dies.” And I thought about his statement for the rest of the weekend.
For the next 10 hours of my life, I hung out with Mr. Monestel and the other students in this program. Though our conversation centered on music, other topics surfaced, like social movements, war, human rights, and identity. Although I have been researching music for the last months, only then did I realize that music is not just a chorus of words stringed together accompanied by a rhythmic beat or guitar, but a story about the past and the story of a people. Calypso music tells the history of people living on the coast, not fully accepted as Costa Rican citizens yet no longer citizens of their respective homelands. Time, somehow, has begun to hide these stories.
On the way back to Puerto Viejo, I listened to the CD’s
Mr. Monestel had given me of his group, CantoAmerica. New and
unknown rhythms of calypso and salsa filled the air; yet, I felt as if I had
already heard them before. His group had
taken traditional Limonese Calypso and sung them in their own style. It was the
same sounds but with new voices. Yes, calypso’s popularity had waned, but thanks
to the efforts of Mr. Monestel and CantoAmerica, it lives in a new musical rendition.
As predicted, Mr. Monestel was right. Music never dies but rebirths itself constantly. You may think you hear new sounds, but in reality, you hear old sounds with new voices.
Click here
to enjoy the sounds that have captivated me and shown me the immortality of music.
Regina
For more information on Costa Rican Calypso, read Rhythm, Song, and Identity: A social cultural history of Limonese Calypso by Manuel Monestel
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