Faculty biography - Manuel Monestel
Manuel Monestel completed undergraduate and masters’ degrees in Sociology and Arts at the University of Costa Rica and Popular Culture and Ethnomusicology at the State University of Bahia in Brazil. He has taught various courses and workshops like Ethnomusicology, Music and Cultural Industry, Music and Drama, Music and Dance and Music and Society at the University of Costa Rica and the Distance University of Costa Rica, and has been head of cultural departments and projects for various institutions such as the University for Peace, the National Counsel of University Rectors and the Associated Colleges of the Midwest.
He has been the host of several programs on Radio Universidad devoted to exploring Latin American and Costa Rican musical traditions. He has published many articles in books (for example Regional Footprints, University of the West Indies, 2006, Nuestra Musica y Danzas Tradicionales, UNESCO, 2003), magazines (Popular Music, Oxford University Press, 1986) and newspapers and the book Ritmo Canción e Identidad: Una historia Sociocultural del Calypso Limonense (2003). A singer and composer of over 100 songs, he has studied, recorded and performed calypso music and other Caribbean styles in Costa Rica during the past three decades and has toured the Americas, Europe and Asia as leader of his band Cantoamerica, with La Orquesta de la Papaya and as a soloist. He is currently writing a book on Costa Rican popular music and is in the process of recording two new music albums.
Read this article about Manuel Monestel.