Shantala Gives Concert for Waldorf School Scholarships

The spiritual music group Shantala will play in San José June 25 to benefit the Waldorf School in Playa Chiquita, on the southern Caribbean coast of the Limón province.

Shantala, which released a CD entitled “The Love Window” in 2003, combines the vocal talents of Heather Wertheimer with Benjy Wertheimer’s training in Indian classical music to produce what the pair describes as sacred chants.

The aim of the benefit concert is to fund scholarships for students who cannot afford tuition, said Silvana Comino, vice-president of the Waldorf School. Of the 25 students who attend kindergarten through fourth grade at the school, eight are currently on scholarships (TT, June 24, 2005).

Waldorf schools aim to take any child who wants to attend, regardless of his or her ability to pay tuition, Comino said. Students normally pay tuition on a sliding scale based on what their parents can afford, and wealthier families subsidize those with less ability to pay.Monthly tuition ranges from $80-120.

But since many families in the Limón area are poor, the normal system isn’t working.

“We don’t have many high-paying families, so there is no balance,” Comino said.

“We need to do some fundraising so we can continue to have an open-door policy for local kids.”

The concert will begin at 4 p.m. at the Namasté Yoga Studio, 800 meters west of San José’s Hospital México, and 100 meters south of the guardhouse at Viveros Brandt.

Free chai tea will be served before the event, and Indian curry from Tin-Jo restaurant will be available afterward for ¢1,000 ($2).

Sixty tickets are available for a minimum donation of ¢10,000 ($20) each. Tickets can be purchased at Centro de Balance Integral and Casa Osiris yoga studios, both in the eastern suburb of San Pedro; the Centro de Yoga y Meditación Kapoli in the western suburb of Escazú; and the Namasté studio.

For more info, call Comino at 750-0115 or Mariela Cruz at 232-2464.