Our Story
We are a private, not for profit project that offers free music classes for children of all ages in the pueblo of Dzemul and the surrounding communities in the northern Yucatan with a vision of using music as a vehicle for social change.
The project was started by Marjorie Skouras and Bruno Bardavid on their ranch Quinta Kookix in September 2021. To date, it has been supported by Marjorie and Bruno, along with donations by friends and a growing family of donors from 9 countries around the world, of both funds and instruments. Our aim was to find a way in which we could participate in a meaningful way in our new community, where we are 2 of only 3 foreigners currently living here. There was no music school in Dzemul, hence the only option for music instruction was through private lessons, something that is cost prohibitive for most of the children in Dzemul. Dzemul, like most of Mexico, has a rich musical and dance tradition – the Ballet Folklorico Las Gardenias Jarana dancers are known statewide, and three generations ago Dzemul had an 80-piece orchestra named the Clave Azul (The Blue Note). Our thought was that we could offer something that might afford an enriching experience through music, fill a void for the community, and help to preserve local traditions.
We started our project on September 30, 2021, with three students not knowing what kind of reception we would have. By the following week our little group had grown to 9 students. By Christmas of 2021, we were 14 strong, and a choir had been formed and had 6 songs, including one in Maya, under their belts. We were invited to perform at the Christmas tree lighting ceremony for the neighboring town of Cansahcab and received a certificate of thanks from the mayor. We were on to something…
As we entered 2022, the children expressed an increasing interest in learning to play instruments. At this point, Marjorie made a post on Facebook asking if anyone had any used instruments that they could donate. The response was overwhelming. We received substantial cash donations, and many musical instruments from not only our friends in Merida, but from friends around the globe. We started to receive visits from our friends, their friends, and people we did not know but who had heard of our happy band of budding musicians. There were violins, cellos, guitars, ukuleles, clarinets, recorders, a transversal flute, trumpets, a trombone, a beautiful keyboard, percussion instruments (including those of Marjorie’s daughter India, which she had saved for 20 years not yet understanding why…), three electric guitars with an amp, a mandolin, and a vihuela de Mariachi, an elegant string instrument from Mexico. All of these were enthusiastically tried and chosen by the group of then 25 students.
In early spring 2022, we had a visit from Steve Katz, one of the founding members of the legendary rock and roll group Blood, Sweat and Tears, who had heard about us from mutual friends in Merida and made a trip out to visit. He was so moved by our efforts that he gifted us with his personal guitar. For a girl from 1960s San Francisco, this was really, cool…Steve returned to us for Valentine´s Day 2023, and played several songs for the kids, and then patiently answered their multitude of
questions about life as a rock star. In December 2022, we had a visit from Jennifer Charles, the founder of the well-known group Elysian Fields, and she gifted the school her personal Korg, which had travelled around the globe with her. She enjoyed her visit so much that she has asked to return to have a workshop on world music. January 2023 brought us Alejandro Pinzon, born and raised in Merida, and now the conductor of the Pittsburgh Civic Orchestra, with his treasured Bandoneon which thrilled everyone.
A seminal moment was an afternoon of musical exchange with Daniel Borges, a famous composer of Trova Yucateca, the glorious music that is unique to the Yucateca culture. With this, the students themselves proposed that the program shift to emphasize the development of a Trova group, as a way for them to directly preserve and promote this rich cultural tradition. Trova Yucateca is now 65% of the focus of the school, with the other 35% being the chorus and the Ukelele group – Ukelele has a longstanding history in the Yucatan and has been warmly and enthusiastically embraced here at Kookix.
Over the past three years, one of our greatest challenges has been finding teachers who will make the trip out to us. There have been several who have helped us along our path, but the miracle we have been awaiting arrived in July of 2024. We have been able to form an alliance with Jose Luis Chan Sabido and his Vienna Music Academy in the neighboring town of Motul. Jose Luis´s story is the remarkable voyage of an 11-year-old violin prodigy from the Yucatan who had the opportunity to attend the Instituto Superior de Musica del Estado de Veracruz at the age of 16, he was sent to Mexico City where he performed with the symphony orchestra of Mexico City for two years, after which he went to study music in Vienna, spending the next 20 years in Europe. Upon returning to the Yucatan, he became the conductor of OSY, the symphony orchestra of the Yucatan, and formed the statewide Yucatan Children’s Orchestra featuring 450 young musicians from around the state. He established his music academy nearby in late 2023 as part of his vision of giving back to his people. He shares our vision of the enormous value of music and the wonderful benefits it affords to the intellectual and emotional growth of young people, and that it also affords them a structure on which to build a better life. We are thrilled to be working with him as our Program Director, and he has provided us with high level professional teachers whose impact has been immediate and profound. As of March 7, 2025, Maestro Jose Luis has become our Music Theory and Singing teachers as well. In late November of 2024, as the direction of the program was shifting exclusively to Trova Yucateca, Maestro Jose Luis introduced the remarkable Edilberto Demetrio Tzab Chale, a well known Trova master, born in our Pueblo of Dzemul, but who has lived most of his adult lfe in the neighboring town of Motul. Apart from his personal music, Maestro Dili as he is affectionately known, was the Director of Cultural Affairs for the city of Motul not once but three times, most recently when it became a Pueblo Magico of Mexico, an enormous honor. Under his tutelage, the group has progressed exponentially, and we are looking to share our music with the outside world more and more.
As part of our overall program, we are now able to make excursions to the wonderful museums in Merida, attend musical events and concerts around the Yucatan, as well as welcoming visiting musicians to our schoolhouse. As a personal gesture of our commitment to this project, Bruno and I built an air-conditioned schoolhouse with four covered outdoor classroom areas, two bathrooms and a beautiful garden. We are completing an additional guest house on our property which we hope will house visiting performers and teachers in the near future.
In June of 2024, four of our guitarists were invited to go to Mexico City to perform at the Sala Nezahualcoyotl at UNAM, the most important auditorium in Latin America, with 650 other young musicians from the Colegio Ciudad de México Plantel Contadero. It was the trip of a lifetime for them and their mothers, and we have been invited to return with a larger group in December of 2025.
People ask us “Why music?”. We were looking to support a program with strong historical and traditional roots, and the idea of social change through music – affording children the opportunity to explore beyond their geographic and socio-economic boundaries – took shape organically. The students have formed a most wonderful community, one of which we are so proud to be a part. We also just love music and the joy that it brings to everyone involved.
With the belief and help of many we have exceeded our wildest expectations in this short period of time and look forward to providing continued growth and opportunities on all fronts for these terrific kids as we move toward our fifth year.
We have known that the Yucatan is a place of magic since we arrived. Beyond the wild beauty and history of it all - it is the seat of the Mayan Empire - its magic manifests on a nearly daily basis. To be able to live amongst these joyous, kind, and generous people lifts one’s spirit and makes one feel that indeed anything is possible. The original idea was to find a way in which we could become part of our new community, and to give back for the great fortune which we must be able to live here. It has become something so much bigger than this. It has changed the way we live our lives as well as our outlooks and beliefs, as well as those of many of the students. We have not only been accepted by our community but embraced in a way we could never have imagined.
We entreat you to join our community in any way that you are able. We have become a portal to the world for these children and have pledged ourselves to their support and growth with your help. As part of this directive, we have engaged a Fiscal Sponsor in the United States, Fractured Atlas, where you are able to make tax deductible donations https://www.fracturedatlas.org, and we are happy to accept donations through PayPal, or mano to mano in person – we are always thrilled to have visitors on days when classes are in session!
Saludos!
Marjie and Bruno