Guadalupe Urbina

Guadalupe Urbina (born 28 October 1959) is a Costa Rican singer-songwriter. She is a folk musician whose compositions reflect the oral tradition of Guanacaste, her birthplace. She received the Gaviota award from Spain's Círculo de Bellas Artes in 1994.

Guadalupe Urbina
Background information
Born (1959-10-28) 28 October 1959
Sardinal, Guanacaste, Costa Rica
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Singer-songwriter
  • composer
  • poet
Instruments
  • Singing
  • guitar
LabelsPutumayo World Music
Associated actsCallejeros
Websiteguadalupeurbina.org

Early life

Urbina was born and raised in Sardinal, Guanacaste as the youngest of ten children of Nicaraguan immigrants to Costa Rica.[1][2] She was born into a rural household with no electricity, and did not own shoes until she was eleven years old.[1]

Her first experience with music was through her mother Angelita Juárez, who introduced her to the oral tradition of Guanacaste, and the ranchera music she heard on the radio when she was an infant.[3] By the time she was eight years old, she had become a frequent performer at family events, with the large repertoire of traditional stories, songs, and rhythms she had learned from her mother or from local radio station broadcasts.[2][1] When she was eleven years old, her mother died, and she was sent to San José to live with her older sisters.[1] In San José, she was influenced by world music and the counterculture movement, listening to Joan Baez and the Latin American music of the 1970s.

Musical career

When Urbina was sixteen years old, she learned to play guitar and began to hone her skills as a poet and singer-songwriter.[4] She attended the National University of Costa Rica in the city of Heredia to study music and guitar, where she won the first prize at the university song festival two years in a row.[1]

In 1988, Urbina performed at the Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica as a part of the Amnesty International Human Rights Now! tour.[5] She received a Gaviota award from the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid, Spain, in 1994 for her work with oral tradition.[6] A year later, she was presented with the Premio América from Radio France by Youssou N'Dour.[4]

In the mid-1990s, Urbina moved to the Netherlands. After her move, she continued composing music, combining her own musical compositions with the traditional songs of Guanacaste folklore that she encountered in her research. Her 2001 album Garden of Eden was published by world music record labels such as Putumayo World Music.[7] She returned to Costa Rica in the early 2000s.[7] In 2011, she performed a collection of works of the oral tradition of her birthplace of Guanacaste at the National Theatre of Costa Rica, where she first performed in 1989.[8]

Urbina has made tours in Latin America, the United States, and Europe. In Costa Rica, she has shared the stage with various different singers and musical groups including Bernardo Quesada, Patricio Barraza, Malpaís, Adrián Goizueta, Luis Ángel Castro, Manuel Monestel, Cantoamérica, María Pretiz, Rubén Pagura, and Manuel Obregón. She has shared the stage with international artists including Guillermo Anderson, Daniel Viglietti, Los Folkloristas, Youssou N'Dour, Lokua Kanza, Tracy Chapman, Bruce Springsteen.[3] She is known in Spain both for winning a Gaviota award from Madrid's Círculo de Bellas Artes and for her frequent television appearances in Madrid, such as on the RTVE program Sonidos étnicos.[9]

Personal life

In 2002, Urbina was given a diagnosis of brain cancer while in Europe, and underwent treatment in Belgium.[1]

She currently lives in Costa Rica.[3] There, she directs the Fundación Voz Propia, an organization which supports the development of the arts in young people.[6]

Media coverage

Urbina is the subject of the 2019 documentary film Los caminos del amor, which covers her life and work.[10]

Discography
  • 100 Varas Al Sur Del Herediano (1995, with Callejeros)
  • De Todos Modos (1996, with Callejeros)
  • Garden of Eden (2001)[7]
  • Trópico Azul De Lluvia (2002)
  • La Madremonte: ritmos, cantos y cuentos (2002)
  • Al Menudeo (2002)
  • Cancionero Tradicional Anónimo De Guanacaste: "Sones de Tierra Caliente" (2011)
  • Mis Canciones Que Te Gustan (2012)

Bibliography
  • Benito, Pánfila y el Perro Garrobero (Costa Rica, 2002)
  • Al Menudeo (Spain, 2003)
  • Palabras de Larga Noche (Costa Rica, 2014)[11]

References
  1. Fonte, Verona (28 October 2014). "Guadalupe Urbina: Artist Activist from Costa Rica". Women Eco Artists Dialog. WEAD. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
  2. Kyriss, Gaby (8 June 2007). "Queen of Folk: Guadalupe Urbina". The Tico Times Costa Rica. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
  3. "Guadalupe Urbina". guadalupeurbina.org. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
  4. Soto Campos, Carlos (7 May 2017). "Guadalupe Urbina, flor de eterna primavera, vuelve al escenario". La Nación (in Spanish). Grupo Nación. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
  5. "Reseña del concierto de Amnistía Internacional en Costa Rica" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 14 September 2008. Retrieved 3 September 2011.
  6. Gautier, Anjanette (7 December 2018). "Festival nos lleva a viaje musical a Costa Rica (Festival a musical voyage to Costa Rica". Austin American-Statesman. Retrieved 31 July 2020. Hija de agricultores, nacida en la tierra de la marimba, la provincia de Guanacaste en el norte de Costa Rica, Urbina visita Austin por primera vez y compartirá durante el festival sus canciones y las notas de su guitarra. Cantautora alardonada mundialmente, ganadora del Premio Gaviota en el CÍrculo [sic] de Bellas Artes de Madrid en 1994 por su trabajo en la narración oral, Urbina es también reconocida por su labor educativa a través de su fundación Voz Propia en favor del desarrollo de las artes en los jóvenes. (Daughter of farmers, born in the land of the marimba, the Guanacaste province in the north of Costa Rica, Urbina visits Austin for the first time and will share during the festival her songs and the notes of her guitar. Globally praised singer-songwriter, winner of the Gaviota Award at the Madrid Fine Arts Circle in 1994 for her work on oral narration, Urbina is also recognized for her educational work through her Voz Propia foundation for the development of the arts in young people.)
  7. L'Hoeste, Héctor Fernández (25 November 2015). Shaw, Lauren (ed.). "Song and Social Change in Latin America". Latin American Music Review. University of Texas Press. 36 (2): 269–270. ISSN 1536-0199.
  8. "Guadalupe Urbina lleva la música guanacasteca hoy al Teatro Nacional". La Nación (in Spanish). Grupo Nación. 23 November 2011. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  9. "Ritmos étnicos - Guadalupe Urbina - 13/07/09". RTVE.es (in Spanish). RTVE. 13 July 2009.
  10. Sánchez, Alexánder (27 June 2019). "'Los caminos del amor': filme inmortaliza a Guadalupe Urbina". La Nación (in Spanish). Grupo Nación. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  11. "Guadalupe Urbina". Editorial Costa Rica (in Spanish).
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