Gerardo Can Pat

Gerardo Can Pat was a Maya poet, musician, photographer, videomaker, and researcher of his language and cultural traditions. He founded the musical group Fuerza Tropical, and he participated in several reunions of Maya writers before his death in 1994. Among his many publications are the two volumes Maya k’aayo’ob suuk bejla’ abeono’o’be and La nueva canción maya [The new Maya song], compilations of Maya songs that include their melodies as well as their lyrics. His work appears in various anthologies. Besides being the first published poet in Maya language, he was a committed student of traditional Maya music and literature, as well as the rituals and sacred festivals of his people. At the time of his death, he was working on a documentary about, and for, his people, including recordings of traditional festivals that he planned to project at workshops on religious expression and identity where his people could discuss their importance. He had a clear goal as a facilitator of artistic and intellectual development in his community; as he said, “composers continue emerging from the people who feel the need to create and recreate themselves in their culture.”