Oscar Reynolds & Karumanta Bio

Oscar Reynolds (Bolivia) 
antara, zampoñas, quena, quenacho, guitar, compositions, arrangements, musical direction

Lalo Izquierdo (Perú) 
cajón, cajita, donkey jaw, percussive dance  

David Pinto (Perú)
bass

José Luis Reynolds (Bolivia) (for four-piece ensemble)
charango


“With haunting panpipes, intricate rhythmic patterns and dramatic chords, the music of Karumanta merges ancient styles and instruments to create a startingly fresh sound." - San Jose Mercury News   

With a music career spanning four decades, Bolivian-born Oscar Reynolds leads the critically-acclaimed San Francisco ensemble Karumanta, described by the East Bay Express as "the current favorite of fans in a field already overrun with excellent musicians, representing the purest traditional sound." Formed in 1991, the ensemble’s repertoire and top-notch performance is an eclectic combination of traditional Bolivian rhythms and melodies from the Quechua and Aymara Indians, Afro-Bolivians, criollos, and other Bolivian regions to Bolivian music harmoniously uniting with other cultures and genres like flamenco, Afro-Peruvian music, and jazz.

With past performances throughout South America, Europe, and the United States and various sold-out shows in up to 2,000 seat venues, Karumanta actively participates in helping communities by donating portions of their concert proceeds to benefit non-profit organizations and charities. Their music has been featured in the movie Follow Me Home, NPR’s Morning Edition, and KGO radio’s program The Best Music You’ve Never Heard, among over 850 NPR and PRI stations and syndicated programs across the United States and abroad. Karumanta has given live music performances on Telemundo, Univision, KRON 4’s Latin Eyes, ABC News10, UPN 31, and NBC, among many others.

The ensemble boasts master musicians with rich and diverse accomplishments in their traditional fields. Oscar is an accomplished Bolivian pan flute master and composer recognized for his unparalleled coordination and dexterity in playing the bamboo flutes and guitar simultaneously. Frank Zeccola of the San Francisco Observer says, “Any flute player would marvel at the tight control over each note Reynolds displays while packing a stream of emotions into his complex scale runs, but to see him do that and play the guitar is quite impressive.” Along with Peruvian drummer Lalo Izquierdo, his latest musical work is being funded by the Creative Work Fund grant for traditional arts.  

Afro-Peruvian drummer Lalo Izquierdo lends just the right punctuations with polyphonic rhythms and dynamic effects on the cajón (box drum) and other indigenous percussive instruments as varied and innovative as a donkey jaw and wooden piggy bank. One of his significant accomplishments in Black Peruvian music is co-founding the most important Afro-Peruvian Cultural Association Perú Negro, the cultural ambassadors of Black Peruvian Culture. He is recognized worldwide as a master percussionist, choreographer, and folkloric dancer. A visual and aural feast included in the ensemble's program features Izquierdo displaying intricate Afro-Peruvian footwork to the music. 

Also joining Karumanta is David Pinto on six-string bass with his melodic passages and smooth style. He has appeared on stages around the world as Afro-Peruvian singer Susana Baca's bassist. 

José Luis Reynolds completes the ensemble when performing as a four-piece band with lightning fast finger-picking on the charango, an Andean adaptation of the guitar with five double-strings. His dexterity and passionate playing lends elegance and gives the music the Andean tinge. 

“Thus, in Oscar’s music you have diverse cultural traditions joining together based on time period, means, and circumstance. History, tradition, and geography are just as important as scales and beats, sharps and flats. The blending of traditions and cultures as the music crossed borders, migrated and evolved over the course of history, over empires falling and rising and countries gaining and losing dominance and power; this is the experience Oscar Reynolds brings to his music.” – San Francisco Observer