Pablo Ugalde (Costa Rica)
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Pablo Ugalde is a singer and songwriter from Costa Rica. A creative child, he developed a passion for visual arts, and later, music. In 2005, Ugalde began studying Advertising Design at the University of Science and Arts, where he expanded his artistic horizons. His musical journey started in 2007, performing with his brother and learning from local musicians. Over the years, he refined his compositions, blending cultural and analytical elements and releasing several albums. Alongside his music career, Ugalde works as an educator, artist, and illustrator, continually exploring themes of life, death, and human nature.
Featured Songs:
On the Latin Café track, “Más Allá de lo Común” (Beyond the Ordinary), Ugalde reflects on the fleeting nature of life, encouraging living fully before time slips away. “Dreams, they fade away because of fear / They get lost as the years go by / With a lack of courage / Life, it fades away as it leaves / It fades with the passing years / With the addition of age / There is life / How beautiful is this life / May it not fall into agony without having / Lived beyond the ordinary.”
“Ay mujer” (Oh Woman), featured on Putumayo's Latin Dance Party, is an upbeat cumbia that nevertheless expresses deep emotional turmoil and longing caused by an intense love that has left the singer feeling lost and overwhelmed. The lyrics convey confusion, heartache, and desperation as the singer struggles to make sense of their emotions and cope with the absence of their beloved. “Oh, woman, what have you done? / I feel my heart / Beating madly when I see you, my love / What is this that burns away all reason / That stirs up my desires—what could it be?”
The ¡Cumbia, Salsa, Son! song “Que Lindo es Cantar” (How Lovely It Is to Sing) is set to the rhythm of Colombian champeta, a genre that emerged from Cartagena’s Afro-Colombian neighborhoods in the 1970s, blending Congolese soukous and other West African rhythms with Caribbean and local Afro-Colombian styles like bullerengue and mapalé. Ugalde, also known for his visual art, wrote the song as a celebration of singing and moving through life with music. A lyric excerpt: “I carry rhythm in my steps / In my palms the weight that stirs the drum / Oh, how lovely it is to sing / To move your hips, walk unhurried, laugh without end.”
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