About

Bernal Chaves is a music and sound artist combining dream-like indie nuances, contemporary textures, and enchanting melodies rooted in Latin American folk. His mature and ever-evolving artistry serves as a vehicle for sonic exploration and the liberation of fragmented memories.

His voice and guitar convey a warmth that anchors his style, contrasting with the unpredictable nature of his sonic experiments. His persistent search for raw sound imprints his music with spontaneity, whether through home recordings or studio productions. The balance between the fleeting and the enduring creates a lively, ever-shifting musical dialogue.

This dialogue extends beyond his music and into his life. His introspective songs reimagine the concept of home from a cosmopolitan perspective, whether as a place we long to belong to or as a refuge. Aware of this nostalgia, Bernal transforms it into vivid stories of resilience and self-discovery, exploring identity and vulnerability to envision a more compassionate world.

Now based in Hamburg, Germany, Bernal is preparing to bring his debut album to life, featuring songs such as "Hammock in a Cas Tree", a sonic postcard of his daughter’s childhood set in a nostalgic backyard with a tree, a hammock, and exotic fruit drinks from his native Costa Rica. “Refugio” is an intimate song about a shared space shaped by dreams, memories and silent rituals that slowly opens up to the world; while "Tonight" serves as a meditation on the vulnerability of twilight, where time seems to pause as we witness our growth.

Born in Costa Rica in 1985, Bernal Chaves’ career bridges studio music production and sonic experimentation. He studied jazz guitar at the University of Costa Rica and with Pino Marrone in Buenos Aires, later earning a degree in sound engineering from Tecson School in Argentina. His work spans solo projects and collaborations with Costa Rican producer Tomás de Camino (Automata Records), composer and musicologist Susan Campos, and numerous independent bands.

In addition to his artistic work, Bernal has developed award-winning audio branding strategies, receiving the 2018 Better Sound Award for The Sound of FIA and the 2019 International Sound Award for The Sounds of Costa Rica.