Lenín Fernández
Guatemala
Drummer, composer and producer, he joined the rock group Alux Nahual in 1986, making five recordings. In 2001 he approached potter Carlos Chaclán, creator of the “Tonajas,” a type of indigenous percussion used by the Mayans in ancient times. Lenín has become a master at playing these ceramic drums and singing about the dramatic destiny of Guatemala’s indigenous population.
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Oscar “El Chele” Menjívar
El Salvador
Guitarist, composer and bass player with more than 14 years in his music teaching career.

While residing in Germany, he founded the Latin jazz group “Bliss” with European and Latin American musicians. In El Salvador he put together the “Jazz on” quintet, a major force in the proliferation of this musical genre among younger musicians. In the Papaya Orchestra he plays bass and sings a traditional Salvadoran theme.
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“Breeda” David Obi
Belize
Guitarist, composer and singer, he is considered the creator of a rhythm that revolutionized the traditional music of Belize, called “Kungo Music,” which brings together African rhythms, Jamaican reggae, the calypso and soca of Trinidad and Tobago, a certain European rock influence and the Kriol “Brukdown,” a very popular rhythm in Belize. In the Papaya Orchestra he sings and plays the electric guitar and the Boom and Chime, a drum made of a hollow trunk and goatskin.
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Mohobub Flores
Belize
Percussionist and singer. Mohobub was born in Dandriga, cultural and musical capital of the Garifuna community of Belize and birthplace of Pen Cayetano, a musician and painter who founded the Turtle Shell Band in the ‘80s and fused traditional Garifuna music to popularize what was called “punta rock.” Mohobub started his career as a percussionist in 1979 and belongs to the generation responsible for projecting the music of this ethnic group onto the international scene. The Garifunas are a mixture of Indians and Africans who arrived in Belize and Honduras 200 years ago from the island of San Vicente.
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Ramón Eduardo “Guayo” Cedeño
Juan Astor Norales Dolmo
Honduras
Musician and producer, Cedeño plays guitar, percussion, conch, flute and “caramba,” a type of quijongo or bass that uses a large gourd as a soundbox. Norales Dolmo plays the Garifuna drum and sings.

Both come from the banana port of La Ceiba, Honduras, and belong to the band of renowned musician Guillermo Anderson, who pursues originality by turning to the Garifuna rhythms “Punta” and “Parranda” and a wide range of Caribbean beats.

Cedeño and Norales have thrown themselves fully into the research and dissemination of Honduran-style Garifuna rhythms, and work with choirs of women, who have greater ability to communicate with the spiritual world according to the beliefs of these communities.
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Marcos Martínez
Domingo Martínez
Yader Martínez
Nicaragua
Marcos, Domingo and Yader Martínez are part of the same musical family that comes from Masaya and Masatepe, where the “marimba de arco” is an instrument transmitting culture and folklore associated with neighborhood dances and religious processions.

Members of the marimba group “Nicaragua Mía,” representing three generations, the Martínez family worked with Manuel Obregón on a project to fuse piano and marimba, materializing in the CD Pasión (1997) and the embryo of what would become the Papaya Orchestra.

“Nicaragua Mía” is an innovative orchestra that empowered the expressive qualities of a seemingly limited instrument, the marimba de arco, whose geographic presence was restricted by the extinction of players.
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Raúl Vital
Miguel Angel Leguisamo
Ormelis Cortez
Antonio de la Cruz
Panama
Raúl Vital is the expert interpreting the saloma, décimas and distinctive shout of the country people living in western Panama. Miguel Angel Leguisamo plays the country fiddle and is one of the most emblematic composers of current folk in Panama. Ormelis Cortéz plays the accordion, and Antonio de la Cruz the mejoranera, the 5-string guitar that predominates at folk festivals, zapateados and regional fiestas of the Mejoranera, where the Spanish and Colombian influence is evident.
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Manuel Obregón
Costa Rica
A jazz and blues pianist with his own inimitable style, here Obregón displays one of his many facets in the panorama of Costa Rican music, and his willingness to work together with the musicians making a vital contribution to urban song.

See the Manuel Obregón´s web site >>

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