ERICKOSCAR – Two Flags, One Heart

Erick Oscar Tells a Story of Home, Heritage and Belonging on “Two Flags, One Heart”

“Two Flags, One Heart” is a highly personal song concerning Erick Oscar, being directly based on the experience which shaped his life during his journey from Panama to the United States. Having been born and brought up in Panama, Erick moved to the United States when he was 21 on a scholarship to a small Christian university in Siloam Springs, Arkansas, and thus began a new phase of life far from where he had grown up. The song presents this transition without simply presenting it as leaving one home to take up another; rather, it expresses the complex yet rewarding aspect of taking your roots with you as you establish a new life elsewhere. While the story shows a sense of affection for Panama, it also reveals a true love for the United States, which he now considers home, giving the song an emotional balance that appears both personal and universal.

The feeling of movement and a sense of belonging is what gives the album as a whole its distinct identity. The songs ‘Because I Said So’, ‘Borrowed Peace’, ‘Show Me The Way’, ‘My Heartbeat’ and ‘One More Mile’ deal with various emotional settings, whereas ‘It Sucks Getting Old’ looks at the realities of ageing, loss and memory. ‘On Hold’ and ‘Let Me Tell You Now’ provide additional viewpoints on relationships and the things that people often fail to say. Throughout the album Erick’s country-Americana style leaves plenty of space for storytelling, the acoustic-based songwriting establishing a natural link with the personal experiences that lie behind the songs. The album has the feel of a life spanned across different cultures and locations, with love, faith, relationships, memories and perseverance all becoming part of the same musical dialogue.

Erick’s long association with music is just as significant to the character of Two Flags, One Heart. His father was a singer and it was he who introduced Erick to love songs and ballads when he was a child, and since then Erick has spent over 35 years playing acoustic guitar with his worship band while writing more than 1,200 songs. Thanks to his recent experience with music production software, he has been able to take all those years of songwriting and create more complete arrangements around them, making decisions himself regarding styles, tempos, vocals, instruments and production. Nevertheless, the technology is still of secondary importance. At its heart, Two Flags, One Heart is concerned with the emotional significance of home — that is, the place where you started life, the place you ultimately decide to live, and the memories and identity that you carry between those two places. Erick Oscar expresses that journey in an honest country-Americana way, focusing on heritage, gratitude and a sense of belonging.

The book ‘Two Flags, One Heart’ turns the journey between Panama and America into a moving account of belonging, showing that in some cases home is not a single place but all that you carry with you.