Marimba Primaveral de Guatemala (Portland) is an eight-piece ensemble of Guatemalan musicians under the leadership of its founder and manager, Domingo Martinez. The group plays locally for private parties and public events and travels nationally and internationally.
Bio
Marimba Primaveral de Guatemala is an eight-piece ensemble of Guatemalan musicians led by its founder, Domingo Martinez. In 1962, Domingo Martinez moved to Portland from his native Guatemala. As a child, Martinez started dancing to the marimba, the national instrument of Guatemala and one of the country’s oldest instruments, dating back to at least the 17th century and possibly introduced by Afro-Caribbean slaves in the previous century. The traditional marimba, which resembles an xylophone, consists of a long row of wooden bars with gourd resonators attached underneath; the whole thing is placed on a wooden stand. The more modern marimba has two rows of wooden bars, similar to the white and black keys on a piano. To play the marimba, musicians stand in front of the instrument and strike the bars with wooden mallets. Four or more people to play the marimba at the same time because of the instrument’s size and number of keys. According to Smithsonian Folkways, the marimba’s “catchy melodies, sentimental harmonies, and dance rhythms are the signature of Guatemala's national musical instrument that drew from the African, Indian, and Ladino (creole) roots of Central America's colonial past.” Marimba music was banned at times during both Spanish colonization and the Guatemalan Civil War (“la violencia”), and thus the instrument holds special significance for indigenous Mayan peoples as a symbol of cultural resistance. Martinez started Marimba Primaveral de Guatemala after seeing some African musicians playing marimbas in Portland. At the time, Martinez’s friend Antonio Diego, a master marimba player, taught him to play a little, and soon they filled out the band with additional musicians. Martinez stopped playing when these more accomplished musicians joined the group but remained as the group’s manager. He often dances in front of the band to demonstrate how to dance to marimba music. When Antonio Diego passed away, his son Felix became the group’s artistic leader. Under the tutelage of his father, Felix began playing the marimba when he was just five years old; he now carries on his father’s legacy as a master player himself.
