Cima is the brain child of Ricky Wascher-Tavares and Oscar Peralta, two seasoned and dedicated musicians who met in 1987 while attending the same high school in Nogales, Arizona. Ricky and Oscar took guitar classes together while Ricky was a sophomore and Oscar was a junior, learning music formally from two gifted music teachers - James “Sonny” Peters and Lou Nachtigall. They spent hours learning, studying and practicing guitar together, and soon they formed their first band, Sharp Edge. S...
Cima is the brain child of Ricky Wascher-Tavares and Oscar Peralta, two seasoned and dedicated musicians who met in 1987 while attending the same high school in Nogales, Arizona. Ricky and Oscar took guitar classes together while Ricky was a sophomore and Oscar was a junior, learning music formally from two gifted music teachers - James “Sonny” Peters and Lou Nachtigall. They spent hours learning, studying and practicing guitar together, and soon they formed their first band, Sharp Edge. Sharp Edge was an 80’s influenced rock/metal band interpreting the “big hair” song styles of that era. Although the band was short-lived (Oscar graduated from high school in 1989 and moved away), it enabled Ricky and Oscar to get their feet wet and to begin honing their songwriting skills.
After playing together in high school for approximately two years, Ricky and Oscar parted ways, playing in many bands both in the United States and in Mexico. In 1993, Ricky joined the Mexican rock band “Digital”, and it was here he got his first shot at writing and recording a professional studio album. The self-titled record was a moderate success in Mexico and found Digital playing to many large audiences and opening up for several large acts. In 1996, due to differences within the band, Ricky parted ways with Digital and continued playing music in Mexico with several bands and musicians until he moved back to the U.S. in 1997.
Following a separation of nearly a decade, Ricky and Oscar met up again in 1997 and formed Cima, a musical project inspired by years of dedication to music, a vast array of experience and a love of playing and songwriting. This “reunion” gave birth to Cima’s first CD entitled “Vuelo” which was released in 1999 and contains eleven compositions of acoustic guitar-dominated rock in Spanish, or “Rock en Español”. In order to maintain the direction, style and vision of the music, written by Ricky and Oscar, “Vuelo” was recorded solely by both composers, who played all of the instruments on the CD. Waldo Estrada, a local keyboardist and friend, supported Cima with his keyboard talents throughout the recording. The music on “Vuelo” was well received by radio listeners and catapulted Cima onto a higher level, both locally and throughout Mexico.
After a year of strictly radio promotion, Ricky and Oscar felt it was time to record a new CD, with a list of 25 songs ready to be picked for the next production. In April of 2000, Cima went back into the studio to record “La Elegancia de la Imaginación” which contains fourteen original songs from the songwriting duo, also in Spanish. For this project, Ricky and Oscar enlisted long-time friend and drummer Mark Enciso, who performed on 4 tracks. Soon after its release in 2000, the duo once again parted ways amicably to pursue different interests.
In 2006, after a 5 year hiatus from writing and recording, Ricky decided to "dust off" the Cima name and began composing music for a new album - but this time without his long-time partner and co-writer. The 2007 release, entitled "Uno" ("One", in English) was a testament to Ricky's first endeavor as sole songwriter and producer for a musical project of this magnitude. The project was also Ricky's first recording in English, although it does contain two re-recorded Cima songs (in Spanish) from the very first album, "Vuelo".
In 2009, Ricky went back into the studio and began writing songs for Cima’s new record, this time a self-titled release. “Cima”, released in 2011, contains 12 original tracks and includes a bonus track – a cover of “Dead Man Walking”, written by David Bowie and Reeves Gabrels and released as a single from David Bowie’s 1997 “Earthling” album.
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