Tumbenk`ay offers a concert in Mayan

* On Xcaret Park`s Esplanade

** Author and composer Martiniano Perez Angulo to direct

By Alejandra Flores

Tumbenk`ay means "New Voice", which is what Martiniano Perez decided to call his musical group of boys, girls, young people and adults from Jose Maria Morelos County.  For more than a decade, they have created innovative songs that speak—in their mother tongue—of the countryside, family, work in the fields, parties and traditions that, although coming from the distant past, continue to be practiced in the interior today.

Tumbenk`ay merges voice with pre-Hispanic instruments such as the tun ku`ul (drum) and conch shell, reed flutes, pottery whistles and ocarinas, and the ever-present rhythm of scrapers.

As part of the cast for the 3rd Life and Death Festival, Xcaret 2008, Tumbenk`ay will give a splendid concert on Xcaret Park`s Esplanade where both nationals and foreigners alike may enjoy the lovely cadence of the Mayan language in poetry and song.

Three generations appear on stage: daughter, mother and grandmother will be the stars of a staging where women, and youth itself, will plant the seed of a revolutionary idea for reflection and poetic imagery through the Mayan language.

There`s no question that Tumbenk`ay, whose work can be found in their first CD, is one of the best musical representatives of Mayan and contemporary creativity in Quintana Roo. Their originality, founded on the sayings and poetry of modern Maya merged with the sounds of pre-Hispanic instruments, creates a singular cultural heritage.

Tumbenk`ay will appear on Xcaret Park`s Esplanade on November 1st and 2nd.