Juan Bansbach Küpfer, was a technician specialized in tubular organs of churches. In his youth, he was working in a factory in Germany when the Costa Rican Metropolitan Curia wrote to the factory stating that they needed maintenance such as a major restoration of the organ of the Metropolitan Cathedral of San José in Costa Rica.

Then, internally, on one of the cork boards that the factory had to communicate with the staff, Juan Bansbach saw a flyer that said: "Opportunity, in the New World, to leave for a period of at least one year, to work giving maintenance to an organ." My grandfather, according to Werner Bansbach, took the role saying to himself "This is for me".

He came by boat, arrived in Puerto Limón on April 20, 1937 and began to work directly on the organ of the Cathedral. As don Juan had a lot of technical knowledge of other instruments, such as accordions and harmonies, other churches contracted his services due to the need to provide maintenance; In a similar way, he favored his new clients, who at that time were people who already had their harmoniums and accordions who asked for his help, so don Juan was attentive to the musical development that existed in the country.

In that April of 1937 the city of San José was attractively stately and village at the same time. In that new world for Don Juan, the National Theater and the electric tramway enjoyed their great brilliance.

In this tram it was a general rule to speak in a low voice so as not to interrupt others passengers; speaking softly was like a slogan by which people proved to be possessors of great culture. Don Juan Bansbach knew this means of transport very well that ran from La Sabana to San Pedro passing through Central Avenue just one hundred meters of his company Juan Bansbach Musical Instruments, still located today in the same place. For 50 years, from April 9, 1899, the tram traveled the city from East to West and from North to South until August 1, 1950 when its function is exhausted.

In these parts he met Doña Hilda Miller who would become his wife. His love story has its peculiarity. She had 12 siblings and several lived in Costa Rica. As a premarital engagement gift to another young man in Germany, she came to visit her family and don Juan dated her forever and never returned to Germany. They had four children: three boys and one girl.

Don Juan Bansbach's company then agreed with the cultural manifestations of the country, typical of this southern border of Mesoamerica, where the rhythms of many places on the planet come together. Among the oldest, the waltz with its own characteristics, as well as the Mazurka and the Polka from Europe, via Spain.


Templo de la Música (a 200 metros de Bansbach, San José)
Juan Bansbach Küpfer



In those years, “La guaria morada” was born by Talolinga Roberto Gutiérrez Vargas, which together with the Creole music from Andalusian dance, Costa Ricans listened “Caña dulce” by José J. Salas and José Daniel Zúñiga.

It is at the end of the first half of the 20th century when the Afro-Caribbean rhythm enters the Central Valley, rhythmic, whose origins lie in the islands of Trinidad and Tobago with greater Jamaican zeal than, due to the contagiousness of its rhythm and cadence, it was quickly adopted by the entire Costa Rican population.
A similar thing happened with the ballad and the bolero that came to us from Cuba where it was mixed with African rhythms combined with maracas and kettledrums that resulted in the rhythmic song that was maintained throughout the second half of the 20th century and in this millennium. Bansbach was and still is there and here.



Street music developed as an urban manifestation with rhythmic rhythm as in "La botijuela" by an unknown author and "Morena linda" by Adán Guevara Centeno and Saturnino Cubillo that was heard daily along with the Mexican Corrido adapted in a particular way as in the song "“Mi linda Costa Rica” by the Nicaraguan Tino López Guerra, also author of “Viva León Jodido”.

Among many Parranderas performed by village bands (the so-called Maroons) is the rhythm of the tambito (named after the poet José Ramírez Sáizar) present in "Caballito Nicoyano" by Mario Chacón, "Pasión" by Pasión Acevedo, "El Torito" (anonymous), "Nayuribes" by José Ramírez Sáizar and Jesús Bonilla alternated with the Punto Guanacasteco, declared a national dance that stands out, in addition to its rhythm, melody and harmony, for the famous "bombs" that are fun couplets that are interspersed when the music is interrupted at the request of the dancers. Bansbach was and continues being there and here.



In those times of the mid-20th century, Tango was also present, especially due to the influence exerted by the Creole thrush Carlos Gardel. This Argentine porteño rhythm was a genre of diffusion among musicians from the national environment. It reached our folklore and the main exponent of this rhythm, within Costa Rican traditional music, is "El huellon de la carreta" by Héctor Zúñiga Rovira, also author of "Amor de Temporada" a song famous for occupying the first places in radio broadcasting. Costa Rican for more than a decade together with the well-known song Pampa, Costa Rican Waltz by Aníbal Reni (Eulogio Porras) and Jesús Bonilla. Bansbach was and still is there and here.

Juan Bansbach also suffered the blows of the Great World War



Later, due to the complications of the Second World War, Juan Bansbach he was renamed don Juan because people called him that: don Juan. That is how the name of the company Juan Bansbach Musical Instruments is born.

Doña Hilda had a fundamental performance during that time. It happened that the time came when the Germans were deported to the United States, as prisoners of war. Don Juan spent several years there, so Werner Bansbach's grandmother, Doña Hilda, took care of the children and everything related to the company. With much support from the German colony, she pulled through. Later, when don Juan returned, they resumed life together and the projects they had brought and continued to build the company.

Today Bansbach is much more than a musical instrument store as is visible on its websites. Many infant students carry a flute in their pack. Those who are part of our flute project start with the "flauta dulce"; This is how fingering, embouchure, posture, breathing, and reading are learned when using a musical tool as cheap as the flute. So once they learn to play the flute, it's easy to move on to the clarinet, or it's easy to move on to the saxophone and other instruments; because many of the bases are already built from the "flauta dulce".

Collaterally, employees of the Bansbach team help people find and facilitate the process of learning the musical instrument of your choice. Thus, through music, Bansbach have made and continue to make their musical contribution, which also includes a philosophy of life in a world full of harmonies.