A Salute to Travis Edmonson of Bud & Travis
Keeping His Legacy alive!
visit the up-to-date version of this website at www.travisedmonson.com
Caminante Del Mayab
A treasure from “The Latin Album,” this hypnotic recording of tender love for the Mayan land and people seems at once comprehendible, even for those who only speak English. So meaningfully does Travis Edmonson enunciate the Spanish lyrics and Mayan words, one is totally caught up in his spell.
The depth, gravity and descriptive nature of the Guty Cardenas song have always had a charm for the singer who first encountered it on a recording by the Trio Los Panchos in the 1940s.
It moved him from the start, and he acknowledges that his own feeling over all the time he's known it has been profoundly romantic, and says “I have even programmed that song differently than almost any other in my repertoire - intentionally planning it to come up at the end of my program. It meant so much to me, and I think it touched something in other people and meant much to them too.”
He states that “the explanation of “Caminante Del Mayab” is as good as a translation. In order to comprehend that song, and to really appreciate it, you have to understand what gave rise to it.”
The Mexican people have long had a fascination for their ancestors, the Mayans, and the great civilization they built. Travis Edmonson explains that Caminante Del Mayab, “was born out of a natural need for the modern Mexican people to have some touch with the Mayans both culturally and naturally,” most particularly their forms of expression.
In fact, interest in the Mayans was at a high when Travis Edmonson first started performing the song. “It very easily fell into my repertoire from my teens,” he adds.
From the very beginning, Travis Edmonson's performances were received with exceptional enthusiasm by audiences, not only because his gifted interpretation so clearly evokes the spirit of this ancient people, but from a passion to establish some kind of connection to them - which this song so eminently does.
“The Latin Album” version is very different than the way he sang it a decade earlier, but also measurably changed from his reading of it in the forties. This evolution was also reflected in audience reception to the piece. A most amazing case, since the melody of the song itself is so classic, actually Mayan in nature.
Travis Edmonson elaborates, “You must have some idea of the Mayans and what they were like . Imagine a very intelligent people -very artistic and descriptive - who were able to describe not only the simple things of their lives, but the complex as well. And in this song they did it. They spread themselves out a little in a romantic description of the world in which they lived, and in so doing, they touched what we think of as romance today - definitely, and very profoundly. It was so richly done, and revived the feeling of romance of that time.”
He concludes, confirming what anyone who has heard his magnificent recording can attest to, “it has the feeling of taking you away to another time and another place, but intimately. That's what that song possesses.”
Also available on the Best of Bud and Travis CD.
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