This story begins with the arrival of plastic toys in Tumaco over fifty years ago, and with the desire of a young Agustín Francisco Tenorio to draw smiles on the faces of his community. At the age of fourteen, he discovered the potential of working in a group when he and his friends formed the dance group Cucurucho with the aim of raising money and bringing the flashy plastic toys to neighborhoods such as Panamá, La Comba, and Herrera, to make their children happy. Through dance, they discovered the power of teamwork and music. Since then, Maestro Francisco realized that children and young people needed something to make them feel important and equal in society.

Naturally, along the rhythm path, dance led them to music, and music to instruments. What began with dance quickly turned into a strong desire to play the music that made them move, and once they learned to play the marimba, cununos, bombos, and guasás, they wanted to learn how to make them as well. In his visits to Don Salvador’s workshop and to the home of the master luthier Críspulo Ramos, where Francisco became an assistant, he learned how to craft bombos and cununos, becoming a master luthier himself.

The remarkable thing about this story is that instrument making of traditional Pacific instruments is just one facet of Maestro Francisco Tenorio’s immense work. His instrument workshop, named Críspulo Ramos in honor of his teacher, shares a home, his home, with a dance school, a music school, a library, and a literacy reinforcement space for children from the age of 5. All these efforts are grouped under TUMA, the Southern Pacific Folk School Foundation, founded by the master with a clear objective: to preserve the cultural expressions of the southern Pacific in order to preserve life, peace, and harmony.

What we see today is the result of a lifetime of teamwork. That’s why when the master speaks, he speaks in the plural and mentions each and every person who makes it possible for the Foundation to work. In charge of managing the Foundation is Rosa Angélica Tenorio, his daughter, because they work as a family and with the many children that dance has given to the Master. In the instrument workshop are Kevin Leandro Cortés, Juan Cuero, Yair, Luis, Fausto Cortés, and the more than 20 covadores responsible for hollowing out the bodies of the drums. In the music school, there’s Maestro John Jairo Cortés. In the dance school, Fernanda Tenorio Quiñones. And in the library, in charge of academic reinforcement, Natalia Bermúdez, supported when needed by María Fernanda Tenorio, who leads rounds and games with the children. Maestro Francisco doesn’t overlook the tasks of each one, and likewise, he makes the disclaimer: in the foundation, everyone does everything. How could they not, when they have the example of the master, the clear testimony of a life dedicated to service and craftsmanship.