U.S

Kan Bacab is an ethnic and experimental music group made up of specialists from the areas of archeology, history and social anthropology. This multidisciplinary conjunction provides a broader vision of artistic expression that develops around the field of pre-Columbian sound expressions, rituality and  worldview of the Mesoamerican peoples.

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The main objective of Kan Bacab is the rescue, conservation and dissemination of pre-Columbian cultural roots through the creation of musical works that evoke the sound of our ancestors. For this, the group ventures into the reproduction of indigenous musical instruments of the Mayan area and different parts of Mesoamerica. These instruments, in addition to reproducing natural sounds, contain a complex symbolic expression. The result is a musical composition full of meanings that seeks to recreate ancient environments, sensations, messages and sounds.

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CULTURAL PROJECT

The Kan Bacab project is developed around four main activities that work together and provide mutual feedback: research, workshops, conferences and concerts.

The research tasks make it possible to identify the various musical instruments from iconographic sources (pre-Columbian codices, polychrome vessels and reliefs) and to delve into the detailed study of their sound and archaeoacoustic properties. In a similar way, historical sources provide us with elements to establish how and in what way these instruments coexist over time, while ethnographic work allows us to elucidate the preservation of traditional manufacturing techniques, to venture into the reproduction of the specimens that they enrich the group's collection and integrate new elements to musical compositions.

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The foregoing allows us to glimpse that the soundscape of the native peoples is inexorably linked to the symbolic manifestations of the sociocultural and religious spheres. All this information collected forms the cornerstone for the development of thematic contents that are transmitted through workshops that thoroughly explore the meanings of the sound tradition of the Mayan culture, the artistic sensitivity of the participants and the performance of musical instruments.

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Similar to what happens with the workshops, the results of the research process are presented either in open forums aimed at the general public, or in specialized forums through conferences (or specialized publications). In this same vein, it can be said that the detailed exploration of the pre-Columbian sound past significantly nourishes the process of composition of the musical pieces produced by the group, at the same time that it provides the necessary inspiration to venture into the scenic representation and the conjugation of various verses. and historical songs.