He shows up at the island's busy dining and nightlife spots and starts playing. Suddenly and without any announcement, the harmonies of traditional Latin songs float through the air, guitar music accompanied by the soft sound of a pan flute and competent singing. Even to the untrained ear, it becomes instantly apparent that this is the performance of a superbly talented musician.
Isaac Tochtli is a Mexican who arrived on St. Maarten in November 2018 and at the time of this writing, plans to stay a few more months. He travels alone and has toured Europe, from the Scandinavian countries to the Mediterranian, where he felt most comfortable on the island of Corsica. After this positive experience, he had the idea to try out another French island for the winter months, and this is how he ended up in the Caribbean on St-Martin.
Asked about where his scheduled gigs are, in hopes to see him perform more frequently, Isaac hesitates: "I'm as busy as I want to be and could have firm appearances... But I'm not up to it right now emotionally." One doesn't want to press for more information after such a private remark, but Isaac continues to explain his situation:
"You see, I need to recover from a traumatic event in my life; I just escaped a cult after living most of my life in a brainwashed state."
An eyebrow raised inquisitively is enough for him to elaborate: "I was a Jehovah's Witness. I was lucky to wake up and get away from it. But the bad part is that I can't see my sons anymore; they cut me off from my family." Isaac feels that he needs some time to heal and explains that he frequently battles with a depressed state of mind - clearly not a favorable condition for a stage entertainer.
This why Isaac Tochtli prefers on most days to take his instruments, walk into one of our island's towns, and to start playing wherever he can find a crowd. We were lucky to watch his performance at a rare scheduled event, right at the central plaza in Orient Village. The restaurants surrounding the stage were busy to the last table, the hum of animated conversations covered the occasional joyful shouts of children running around.
Isaac started playing his full repertoire of various Latin songs, not only the good old Mexican or Peruvian (remember the pan flute) classics but also Colombian and Cuban hits. The music was just loud enough to be enjoyed for focused listening, but far from a volume which would have hindered dinner conversations. This soft approach to evening entertainment fills a void among our island's musicians, who usually overpower the dining environment.
A search for 'Isaac Tochtli' on Youtube will list several videos, among them a seventy-minute documentary, produced a while back by a professional team. The show aired on TV stations worldwide.
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