When Edmar Castaneda was growing up in his native Colombia, he first aspired to become a dancer.
“I was about 13 when I started dancing and they used a harp as a musical instrument when I was dancing,” Castaneda said. “I saw the harp there and I fell in love with it.”
Almost instantly, the dancing career was shelved and Castaneda began to take harp lessons.
“It took a lot of practice,” Castaneda said. “I knew music, because I started playing the cuatro (a special Spanish four-string guitar) when I was seven, so I had the background. But the music background helped, because music has always been important to me.”
Learning how to play the harp was a tremendous task. It’s not easy to learn all the intricacies.
“It was a long process,” said Castaneda, who came to the United States from Colombia four years ago. “I still haven’t finished learning.”
But Castaneda has definitely progressed as a musician, taking the harp to new places that were never before visited.
The 25-year-old Castaneda is a Latin jazz harpist, creating a different style not easily found.
“When I play, it’s not the traditional way of playing the harp,” Castaneda said. “I mix the traditional way with jazz. There aren’t many who do that. I’m trying to create a different style for harpists. It’s a Latin style with some of my Colombian roots. It has a little mix of everything, with strong percussions.”
Castaneda’s talents were spotted by Hudson Riverfront Performing Arts Center Executive Director Bruce Sherman.
“The first time I saw Edmar play was at a party at Paquito’s [D’Rivera, the legendary Latin jazz saxophonist] house,” Sherman said. “They were just jamming and I noticed that he was so young and so talented.”
According to Martin Cohen, who has earned a reputation in jazz circles as “Congahead,” Castaneda has “developed a unique left-hand bass accompaniment to his right-hand melody. Traditional harpists do not use bass, because they are usually part of a group that contains a bass player. Since he plays mostly by himself, Edmar developed this style of playing bass, melody and solo simultaneously.”
The New York Times called Castaneda “a harpist of imposing talent….someone who certainly knows his stuff.” D’Rivera took a special liking to Castaneda and asked the aspiring musician to perform with him on several occasions.
“It’s a great experience knowing Paquito,” Castaneda said. “I usually play two or three concerts a year with him. Since I’ve known him, he’s been such a great influence on me.”
And Thursday, D’Rivera’s influence will carry over in another direction, when Castaneda performs a free lunchtime concert in the UBS PaineWebber complex as part of the HRPAC’s UBS Atrium Concert Series.
Castaneda and his quartet will perform in the atrium, beginning at 12:30 p.m. All are encouraged to attend.
Sherman said that D’Rivera’s relationship had nothing to do with booking Castaneda to perform this concert.
“When they performed together at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center recently, Paquito said that Edmar stole the show from him,” Sherman said. “He’s an electrifying musician, a real star in the making. When you hear a jazz harp, it’s quite unusual, but how he plays with the other hand, it’s so percussive and just incredibly exciting. Because of the unusual nature of how he plays, it makes it very appealing and people should want to come and see it. I thought he would be ideal for the series.”
Although Castaneda has toured the world, performing in concerts like the one he performed with D’Rivera at the NJPAC or at Avery Fisher Hall, called “Cuban Jam,” he has never performed in a lunchtime venue like the UBS Atrium.
“I think it’s going to be real nice,” Castaneda said. “It’s something different.”
Castaneda has also recorded a CD of his music that will be released soon.