Tuesday

The wood that sings

The marimba as we know it today is an instrument made from tuned wooden plates placed along a keyboard. You could say it is a xylophone with a deeper and broader sound, thanks to the resonating tubes located just below the plates.

Although most historians place the origin of the marimba in Africa, vestiges of something similar to a marimba have also been found in some pyramids in Southeast Mexico and Guatemala.

Currently, the marimba is one of the most representative instruments of the state of Chiapas and one of the most famous instruments of the country, where it is part of the local culture, not just in Chiapas, but also in Oaxaca and part of Veracruz.

From rural marimba players that move from town to town carrying their marimba on their back, to the official conservatories, where the Mexican Marimba is studied just like in Europe, Mexicans have made of this instrument something unmatched and that continues to evolve.

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