Semblanzas
Co-founder:
Francisco “Chapito” Barnett Astorga
- Ambassador of Comcáac Culture for over six decades across the world.
- National Prize for Arts and Literature (Category IV: Popular Arts and Traditions).
- Member of the Continental Council of Indigenous Elders and Priests of the Americas, established in 1992.
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Francisco “Chapo” Barnett Astorga was born in Bahía de Kino, Sonora. He possesses an enviable vitality and an irrepressible sense of humor. His daily motto is TCO Cazzim iha (“Everything is beautiful”). He currently lives in Punta Chueca — Socaiix, in the Cmiique iitom or Seri language — in the municipality of Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico.
In the 1960s, his enthusiasm for revitalizing Pascola songs and dances deeply influenced the Seri (Comcáac) people. Like many of his generation, he holds in his memory the ancient ways of composing and performing hacaatol cöicoos (songs of power) and Icoos Hicoiit (Pascola songs), among others. He has passed this knowledge down to his children and other community members. Following his father's example, he learned the path to becoming a Haaco cama (ritual specialist, "medicine man," or shaman).
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He possesses profound knowledge of medicinal plants and stones attributed with magical virtues. He masters the necessary body movements—sometimes performing a slow dance to heal—and, above all, he knows the songs that serve as the language of the spirits.
Francisco Barnett learned to keenly recognize the emotional state of his patients. In Comcáac thought, intelligence resides in the heart rather than the head. When he looks at a sick person, he sees the spirit of the illness and immediately begins to sing until it is defeated. Knowing which songs to intone, at what moment, which spirits to dialogue with, and which songs they answer with, constitutes a specialized art and knowledge mastered only by a Haaco cama like him.
He has become one of the most prominent figures of the Comcáac community, both in the state of Sonora and nationwide. He is frequently invited to academic events, intercultural encounters, and seminars to share the customs of his people and his practice as a Haaco cama within the field of shamanism studies. His travels have taken him to Peru, Guatemala, Guyana, Colombia, the United States, and Europe, where he has shared his wisdom with other Indigenous peoples and the general public.
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Among the Comcáac, he is universally recognized as one of the community's finest singers and the author of many of the songs he performs. He is widely admired for his lifelong effort to revitalize, defend, and promote the expressions that define the identity and culture of the Seri people.
Co-founder:
Emily Icedo
Actress, singer, documentary filmmaker, audiovisual archivist, director, producer, and screenwriter. She holds a diploma in Documentary Film from the Autonomous University of Zacatecas and other diplomas and workshops related to Indigenous groups (FILAC-UN-ITU) and cinematography. “Chapito” Barnett, grandfather and guardian of the Comcáac tradition in Sonora, entrusted her with the rescue of his culture; for this reason, she founded: social aid group Solidaridad Comca´ac, 2012; cultural association Icoos Hicoiit A.C., 2015; audiovisual archive Preservation of Memories of the Sea and the Desert, 2022; and the exhibition program Cine Raíces 2023. All these projects comprise the rescue, training, preservation, and audiovisual exhibition of the original cultures of Sonora, especially the Comcáac. Member of three generations of Polos Audiovisuales by IMCINE. She has directed various documentaries that have been screened on national television and at international festivals. Winner of various calls such as Pacmyc, Ecamc, Tejer Puentes, Huellas Verdes, PECDA, Memorias Vivas, FOCINE Archives and Exhibition, and the Screenwriting Contest "Nárralo en primera persona" (IMCINE), among others.
Cofundador:
Omar Navarrete
He is a producer and filmmaker. He participates in Solidaridad Comca’ac and is a founding member of Icoos Hicoiit A.C.; the latter group was formed at the request of the elders of the Comcáac Community of Punta Chueca, Sonora, Mexico, to rescue their ancestral wisdom, dances, songs, and oral history through documentary video. Through the website Preservation of Memories of the Sea and the Desert and in-person screenings, he seeks the dissemination of these Comcáac traditions. He has co-written, co-directed, and co-produced documentaries focused on indigenous cultural rescue and preservation. Winner of various state, national, and international calls. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration and a Master's in Innovation for Business Development from ITESM, a Master's in Economic Integration from UNISON, and is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Regional Development at CIAD A.C. His line of research is focused on new information and communication technologies, transborder identity, and the economy of indigenous communities in the Sonora-Arizona region. Member of the Transborder Indigenous Studies Institute at Arizona State University.
​Solidaridad Comca´ac
Solidaridad Comca’ac is a community social and cultural aid group working with the Comcáac indigenous community. It has participated in and supported documentaries focused on the rescue and preservation of the indigenous culture of Sonora. Some of these have been screened on national broadcast television and at international film festivals. Likewise, since 2012, it has carried out collections of food, medicine, clothing, blankets, diapers, school supplies, and toys; it also promotes medical missions and environmental preservation through recycling campaigns, among other activities for the benefit of the Comcáac community.
Icoos Hicoiit A.C.
Icoos Hicoiit was created at the request of elder Chapito Barnett, internationally recognized as a Guardian of the Comcáac tradition, to rescue and preserve part of his ancestral wisdom, dances, songs, and oral history. Icoos Hicoiit has produced various documentaries where Comcáac youth and elders share stories of their childhood, songs of power, and ancient healings. Some of these documentaries have been shown at international film festivals in Colombia, Panama, and Mexico, as well as on national broadcast television. Likewise, through the website memoriasdelmarydeldesierto.mx and in-person screenings in the community of Punta Chueca, the project seeks to preserve, catalog, and disseminate the Comcáac cultural heritage to its own members, especially children and youth.
Work team
Romelia Barnett
Documentary director. Ethnic Councilwoman (Regidora). Community promoter, INPI, Punta Chueca, Sonora, 2018-2022. Facilitator and translator for workshops on fisheries and reef conservation for COBI A.C., 2017-2018. Liaison, facilitator, and translator for workshops on climate change for IUCN and CONANP with a gender focus, 2016-2017. Participant and coordinator of participatory video in the Tarahumara community, Jan-Dec 2016. Promoter and operational liaison for the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP), Punta Chueca, 2013-2016. Participant and coordinator of participatory video, Jan-Dec 2013. Director of the rodent monitoring group, PROCODES CONANP community group in Punta Chueca, 2010-2012. Production and editing of videos, Marabunta Filmadora, 2009-2010. Director of the Comcáac sea turtle group of Punta Chueca, 2004-2009. Red Cross paramedic/first responder, Bahía de Kino, 2002-2004. Investigation and monitoring of sea turtles, 1997-2002.
Work team
Luis Olea
Publicist, Marketer, and cultural workshop facilitator. Member of the group Solidaridad Comca’ac and the cultural association Icoos Hicoiit A.C. He has developed digital creative concepts for the internet as well as video editing. He has conducted artistic, cultural, and community workshops with children and youth, such as plays, creative photography for emotional expression, and storytelling for identity strengthening.
Work team
Francisco Barnett Morales
He is a medicine man of the Comcaac community. Since childhood, he began his Haaco Cama training under his father, Francisco Barnett Astorga ("Chapito"), with whom he traveled to various parts of the world, including the United States, Europe, and South America. Together, they worked in temazcal ceremonies and other healing ceremonies using energies, medicinal plants, and the tribe's own healing songs. Today, he is dedicated to performing healings with the endemic Otac animal substance, as well as healings with songs and plants.
Work team
Ursula Sefic
Born in Europe, in Slovenia, where she studied graphic design and worked for several years in television stations as a graphic designer, editor, and director of various programs. Since childhood, she felt a deep connection with nature and indigenous communities, so when she turned 28, she arrived in Mexico and met Chapito (Barnett)—now her father-in-law—who introduced her to the world of spiritual healing. Currently, she offers biomagnetic pair therapies and, together with Francisco Barnett Morales, conducts healing ceremonies.
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Collaborator
Carlos E. Ogarrio Perkins
Sonora
Ogarrio holds a Master's degree in Attention to Special Populations Through Movement and is a Full-Time Professor at the University of Sonora, within the Department of Sports Sciences and Physical Activity, as well as an academic in the Physical Culture and Sports undergraduate program.
His encounter with the Comcáac culture occurred through Francisco “Chapo” Barnett, whom he met by chance in 1993 in Hermosillo, Sonora. Since then, a friendship was established, leading them to travel to various parts of the world for events to which Chapo was invited. Among the most significant places they visited together was the city of Assisi, Italy, where they walked the pilgrimage sites of Saint Francis of Assisi and visited the “Eremo Delle Carceri” monastery, where the saint prayed in a cave located on Mount Subasio in Umbria, central Italy.
Another important event was their attendance at the Second Gathering of Indigenous Elders and Priests of the Americas in 1997, held in the Araracuara village of the Huitoto tribe in the Colombian Amazon. This event brought together 400 indigenous nations of the Americas represented by their venerable elders, priests, and bridge beings.
In 1997, the first audio recording by Chapo Barnett was made on cassette, titled Cantos Comcáac. El lenguaje de la Armonía (Comcáac Songs: The Language of Harmony). It was recorded in situ in Punta Chueca, where the Xepe an Coicöos and temazcales are held today. In 1998, a second audio was recorded in a studio in Hermosillo. Over time, the format transitioned to compact disc, and in 2017, it was uploaded to iTunes and Spotify with the support of Pachamama Family and Héctor Guerra.
In 2011, the first book was published, titled Cantos de los Comcáac. El Legado de los Barnett (Songs of the Comcáac: The Barnett Legacy), which contains songs by Francisco Chapo Barnett and his father, Miguel Barnett, as well as stories and poems. The book was edited through PACMYC and the University of Sonora; it features their songs written in Comcáac and translated into Spanish, along with a CD. Raymundo Barnett collaborated as a translator and Carlos Ogarrio as a compiler for this work.
The book has been presented at various forums, including the Museum of Popular Cultures of the State of Sonora, the University of Sonora, the 2018 Alfonso Ortiz Tirado Festival, and the 22nd anniversary of the CDI radio station XEETCH “La Voz de los Tres Ríos” in Etchojoa, Sonora.
In June 2017, the candidacy of Francisco “Chapo” Barnett for the National Prize for Arts and Literature in Category IV, “Popular Arts and Traditions,” was proposed. The National Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples (CDI) and Professor Ogarrio managed the application and the compilation of documents. In November of that year, he was awarded the prize for his career as a spokesperson for the Comcáac culture.
Currently, Comcáac music is being promoted through Spotify and iTunes with the support of Pachamama Family and Héctor Guerra. The collection is titled Cantos de los Comcáac, el Lenguaje de la Armonía and consists of the following volumes:
I. Miguel Barnett + (2019); II. Chapo Barnett (2019); III. Chapo Barnett (2017); IV. Pancho Barnett (2017); V. Amalia Astorga + / Rosa Amelia Barnett (2021); VI. Pancho Largo Barnett (2021); Tribute to Chapo Barnett – Various Artists (2021).
Collaborator
Jorge Fraile
Photographer / Valencia, Spain.
I started in photography around 2008 after a trip to Mexico; I realized that my compact camera did not allow me to reflect what I was seeing the way I wanted to. One day, without thinking too much about it, I went out and bought my first digital SLR. It was a significant investment, but without realizing it, something began that would change my way of understanding and seeing life.
The need to grow and keep learning led me to pursue various studies, and I continue in that process of trying to improve and move forward. For me, photography is a way of life; one cannot disconnect from being a photographer—you are one at every instant, every moment. Its magic lies in the fact that while you are behind the camera, you are living the present moment in all its magnitude. Everything stops, halts, or fades away beyond you and what is being photographed; it is just you and what is in front of the lens. The Here and Now.
It has led me to grow as a person, to look at people as equals, person to person (de Tú a Tú). It has kept my feet on the ground and allowed me to experience moments with strangers where I have both cried and laughed. Photography is also a language—a medium to transmit, feel, and share. It is a tool to create awareness and bring different realities closer to others.
My photography has always been closely linked to Mexico. I was fortunate enough to maintain a childhood friendship that led me to discover and love this country. I have traveled across almost its entire territory, always trying to get to know the "deep Mexico," the real one, and some of its peoples such as the Coras, Wixarika, Rarámuris, Yaquis, and Comcáac—whom I admire for their identity, traditions, and relationship with nature.
It has given me numerous friends who have helped me fulfill some of my dreams, and I feel fortunate for that. Now, we continue on this path of knowing, feeling, growing, and living. Additionally, I balance photography with my work as a science communicator at the Príncipe Felipe Science Museum in Valencia, where I conduct demonstrations aimed at bringing science to people in an engaging and fun way.
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www.flickr.com/photos/deteniendoeltiempo
www.facebook.com/jorge.fraile1
Collaborator
Edmundo Kossio
The Comcáac inhabit the beautiful and rich Sonoran Desert, on the shores of the Gulf of California, settled primarily in two villages: Axöll Ihóm (Desemboque) and Socaaix (Punta Chueca). Since 2005, Kossio has approached the Seris with the intention of disseminating their ancestral traditions, relying on the anthropological guidance of Dr. Otila Caballero. They have allowed him to record the Festival of the Leatherback Sea Turtle (Xiica Cmotomanoj), the Big Basket Ceremony (Saaptim), the Puberty Ceremony, the Comcáac New Year, as well as their basketry production and other ceremonies in the desert.
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Kossio has participated with his research on the Comcáac in numerous ethnographic exhibitions, in addition to collaborating with universities, magazines, and documentaries in Mexico, the United States, Spain, and France, for which he has also received awards. (Source: Arqueología Mexicana)
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Collaborator
Ricardo María Garibay Velasco
Social Anthropologist, UAM-I; Master’s in Rural Development, UAM-X; Postgraduate studies in Environment and Development, El Colegio de México.
Photographer since 1975. Specialist in ethnographic, landscape, ecology, and female nude photography.
50 solo exhibitions and 45 collective exhibitions in Sonora, Sinaloa, Baja California Sur, Baja California, Morelos, Mexico City, Hidalgo, Veracruz, Michoacán, Yucatán, Colima, Queretaro; California and Texas in the US; and Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais in Brazil.
Visual Anthropology Projects: Identidad (Identity); Las Otras Aguas (The Other Waters); La Chinantla; Canto De Ballenas (Whale Song); Humedales Y Cultura (Wetlands and Culture); Petición De Lluvia En La Región De Chilapa, Gro (Rain Petition in the Region of Chilapa, Guerrero) and El Mezcal De Chilapa.
Published Books: Las Otras Aguas; Entre el Mar y el Desierto (Between the Sea and the Desert); Trazos de Luz y Poesía Arbórea (Traces of Light and Arboreal Poetry); La importancia histórica y cultural de los humedales en México (The Historical and Cultural Importance of Wetlands in Mexico).
Audiovisuals (Outreach and Training): La Montaña de Guerrero; Movimiento Campesino en La Montaña (Peasant Movement in the Mountain); El Cultivo de la Vainilla en la Chinantla (Vanilla Cultivation in the Chinantla) and La Ruta de los Conventos en Morelos (The Route of the Convents in Morelos).
Video: El Archivo Histórico del Agua (The Historical Water Archive); Medio Ambiente, Economía Campesina y Sistemas Productivos en la Chinantla (Environment, Peasant Economy, and Production Systems in the Chinantla).
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ricardomagaribay@gmail.com
www.ricardomariagaribay.com
www.arteenmexico.com/artistas_garibay.php