I believe it is a gift of God, playing the harp.
There is one track on the album called “Jesus de Nazareth”.
 I worship God with my music.
Edmar Castañeda

…it’s hard to imagine the Colombian musician has much contemporary competition. That the harp sounds so natural in this context makes you wonder why so few have thought to utilize this many-stringed instrument as a viable lead instrument…”Jesus de Nazareth”…
is all Castañeda, an expression of regality that’s warm and tingly but appropriately spiritual, too.
Jeff Tamarkin, JazzTimes

Edmar is…an enormous talent; he has the versatility and the enchanting charisma of a musician who has taken his harp out of the shadow to become one of the most original musicians from the Big Apple.
Paquito D’Rivera

Edmar Castañeda was born in Bogotá, Colombia. Since his move to the United States in 1994, Edmar has quite literally taken New York and the world stage by storm with the sheer force of his virtuosic command of the harp - revolutionizing the way audiences and critics alike consider an instrument commonly relegated to the “unusual category”. A master at realizing beautiful complexities of time, while skillfully drawing out lush colors and dynamic spirit, Edmar has been characterized as “almost a world unto himself” (The New York Times). Castaneda plays the harp as a lead instrument, in a fashion owing something alike to flamenco guitar and piano, bending notes, conjuring up astounding melodic and bass lines and jazz harmonies with an intensely rhythmic, percussive attack. Superbly backed in various spare combinations of trumpet, flugelhorn, trombone, bandoneon, electric bass, drums, congas, percussion, and palmas, Castaneda essays a mostly original repertoire tinged with Afrojoropo, bulería, and rumba, sturdily improvisational whatever the genre.
The legendary Paquito D’Rivera, Edmar’s frequent collaborator, has remarked:  “Edmar is…an enormous talent; he has the versatility and the enchanting charisma of a musician who has taken his harp out of the shadow to become one of the most original musicians from the Big Apple”.
Edmar Castañeda has performed and recorded (to rave critical reviews) with an impressive lineup including the Chico O'Farrill Afro-Cuban Jazz Big Band, Lila Downs, Giovanni Hidalgo, Paquito D'Rivera, Wynton Marsalis, John Patitucci, Dave Samuels, and John Scofield.

style: world, latin jazz.
Concerts with large audiences, world music festivals, cultural halls and theaters.

demosongs*
colibrí
afro seis

north sea jazz festival 2009

edmar castañeda trio - cuarto de colores *

EPK - entre cuerdas *