How many of you are familiar with Costa Rican musicians? Costa Rica if you should know, has many talented musicians, from ballads to heavy metal to tropical music, all genres are covered, and here at The Costa Rica Star we thought it’d be a good idea to introduce to you some of those Costa Rican musicians and let you pick your favorites.

To begin, we picked an artist that has been singing since he is 14 years old, and that for a long time he thought he was not going to go past performing in the local bars of his hometown of San Ramón de Alajuela, not that this was a problem, he was content with that, he loves what he does and as long as he is able to do it he doesn’t care if he performs for 10 or 100 people, he won an ACAM (association of composers and music authors) award in 2010 for Composer/Author of the year in the Hard Rock category (Gustavo has 4 original albums, which include around 48 songs he’s written, and he has around 60 others he hasn’t recorded), yet he simply hadn’t had things go his way yet, but life knows better, and his musical career took a turn for the best in 2015… I had a candid conversation with Gustavo Salazar, and here’s how he describes that moment:

“I was doing a small tour in some supermarkets in San Jose, (yes while you shopped I was outside the supermarket singing), when someone that turned out to be the drummer of Costa Rica’s Philharmonic Orchestra approached me, he gave me a phone number and asked me to call to do an audition; honestly, I didn’t call, I felt there was no chance they were going to pick me over so many talented musicians in the country. Days later I was playing at a bar in Palmares and a friend gave me a number and told me to call, it was the number of the director of the Philharmonic Orchestra, Marvin Araya; I hesitated, and after thinking about it a lot, I mentioned it to my wife, who told me –“Just call them, let them tell you –NO”, – so I did, I sent my videos in, they called me a couple of weeks later to go in for an audition, I was still hesitant, never did I think I stood a chance… When Marvin Araya told me he wanted me to sing 3 songs at the “De Italia con Amor” (From Italy with Love) concert at the Melico Salazar theater, I was speechless, I didn’t hear anything he said after that, I couldn’t believe it.” – Gustavo tells us, his voice, still now, betokening excitement and disbelief.

Despite being intimidated by the challenge, his talent spoke for him, 3 songs turned to 5, and his presentation that night was superb, he came in as an unknown singer for many, but he stole the show, this was the beginning of whole new set of opportunities for “Tavo”. With social media as his ally his videos continue to be shared online, and this has helped him reach a wider audience.

He was called in for another concert of the Philharmonic Orchestra, and then another, and another, “A Tribute to Led Zeppelin”, “A Tribute to Queen”, “Philharmonic Rock” “Plancha Music” and “From Spain with Love”; as you can tell Gustavo is a very versatile musician, he loves Metallica, Guns ‘n Roses, Nirvana, and he enjoys playing their songs, but just the same he is perfectly happy doing romantic ballades; when asked about this he says -“I have a passion for rock and for ballades, it depends on how I feel, I channel my feelings through music”; and you can hear and feel that passion and emotion just by talking to him, it’s contagious, and refreshing, certainly he manages to pass on those feelings into his interpretations, and his audience can tell… that’s what a good artist is all about.

Gustavo continues to give presentations in different locations mostly in Alajuela, he will be performing live at Pepper’s Disco Club in Zapote, San Jose, October 13, and he comments, “I don’t do many presentations in San Jose, because most bars and restaurants want artists to pay them a 25-30% of the ticket sales and I don’t believe that is fair; Pepper Disco Club was the only place that didn’t ask me for that, and I really appreciate that, this allows the tickets to be sold for a fair amount, only 3000 colones”. He will also be in Limon in a presentation with the Philharmonic Orchestra in October 22, and in December 17 and 18 again with the Orchestra at the Melico Salazar, the details of this event are yet to be disclosed, but he promises a performance like no other “You’ve never seen this side of me”.

When asked where he dreams of singing someday he responds “If you’d have asked me that some years back I’d told you I wanted to sing in Europe and the United States, be famous, make money; today, I have realized that fame doesn’t exist, money doesn’t define me, it can’t define me because I’d be betraying my beliefs, I want the love of my audience, singing in La Sabana was such an incredible experience, and that’s my dream, I want to sing to a big Costa Rican audience; that first experience singing in the Melico Salazar theater was the best too, a musician in Costa Rica has to go through so much sacrifice, sometimes because of lack of support, because some years back I didn’t have a platform where I could present my music to the public, and now, I can; I want all Costa Rica to hear me sing, that’s my dream”.

So how about we help Gustavo to fulfill his dream? Check out some of his presentations right here, if you like it, share this article, and go see him perform October 13 at Pepper’s Disco Club.