La Lunada Potluck Jam Session

Last night I went to my first (and hopefully not my last) Lunada, thanks to the invitation of Sally O'Boyle. Sally sings in a band with other folks around our age called Harmony Roads. Once a month around the full moon (Lunada), the band members and invited guests who are musical and some who are not gather at the beautiful home of Barry Biesanz, the leader of the pack and exquisite artisan who works with wood.

The house is situated high on a mountain in Escazu with an astounding view of the Central Valley. The musicians jammed in a room lined with windows, so the audience had a sweeping view of twinkling lights in the background.

Before getting down to the business of making music, we shared a potluck dinner. Most of the gatherings I go to involve bringing food to share. I brought my easy-to-make coconut flan pie, which got wolfed down before I had a chance to take a bite (a blessing in disguise?). In turn, I stuffed myself with homemade bread, curried chicken salad, and Hal's delicious lentil soup, which I had also had for lunch when I was at Hal and Sally's house earlier in the day.

Harmony Roads bills itself as Costa Rica's oldest gringo band, playing eclectic music: oldies, country, folk, blues, 50s, and rock and roll. La Lunada wasn't a concert, although I did enjoy listening to the music. The experience for me was more of seeing close up how people get together and create music, like making magic. They brought their guitars, violin, drums, harmonica, voices and put them together, and out came songs.

The musicians had fun making their music, and for one song, I jumped in and banged a tambourine in rhythm (I hope) to a country song. The greatest delight was the attendance of Ben and his violin. Barry found him on Craigslist and invited him to come to the event. Ben is very talented and could improvise on any tune.

This morning I've still got music on my brain. Yee haw!