Glendon Ramírez, pianist for the band Amarillo Cian y Magenta, welcomed the crowd at the group’s first public concert in San José’s Cine Variedades by thanking everyone for being there despite the Chayanne concert.
It was a fitting contrast between the veteran mainstream artist and a young Tico band experimenting with music.
Formed in 2003, the instrumental-only band that attempts to fuse different styles of music recently released its first full-length album, “Nómadas.”
At the Sept. 21 concert, jazz, Chinese, folk and a whole other slew of genres emerged from the speakers at one point or another. It was an entertaining show, amplified with lights, videos (a car driving through Costa Rica) and photos.
The experimental music held together for the most part, though it sometimes got lost in the mix-up of clarinets, drums, bass and the many other instruments played by the band.
Yet, in this land of Whitney Houston and Michael Bolton covers, Amarillo Cian y Magenta is a welcome change. Its musical experimentation is very much needed in Costa Rica, even if some songs go a minute too long.
The good beats made heads in the theater move up and down, and it was fun trying to figure out from which part of the world the tunes came.
Ramírez closed the show by encouraging fans to buy the album “many times.”
