Last night, not this one. I hope. Meantime, Kathy and I joined Tom at UTB and saw a hell of a concert by the Marimba Mandayapa from the state of Chiapas, Mexico, playing Mexican marimbas, which are different than the commercial marimbas usually played. I didn’t take a close a look as others did, but there is something in the design that gives the base notes a sitar-like buzz, although the buzz decays more quickly than the tone on the marimba, which is not the same as a sitar. One possibility is that the resonators under the bars, which are constructed of wood, are so large in the bass range that they are touching. That. of course, would cause some vibration. Nevertheless it’s an effective instrument. A second difference I could see is that the bars are drilled through the sides and suspended by a stiff rope stretched and tied off on the bass end of the scale. The rope might have been sisal.

The group is a family band. Led by Zeferino Nandayapa playing with four sons and three grandchildren on two marimbas, four on larger four and a half or five octave marimba and two or three on a tenor version of, perhaps, three octaves. Here’s UTB’s release on the group. Their music was incredibly complex and even the simplest folk tunes had been arranged to a very high level of sophistication. I was taken enough that I regretted having skipped the show last night, put on by the eldest son. To make up, I bought a three CD collection, renditions of Mexican pop and folk tunes, several of which they played tonight.

If they head your way, do yourself a favor and take a listen.

Here’s an idea for those of you in the radio business, produce a show centered on marimba. There’s a pretty wide variety of stuff.