Jhon Edison knows he’s the heir to his family’s tradition. Dad, mom, brothers, cousins, uncles, everyone in his surroundings has been dedicated to craftsmanship for years. In his early thirties, he proudly carries the Kamentsá legacy wherever he goes, doing what he once heard someone say: to be indigenous. He’s part of a generation that has managed to shake off the terrible shame their ancestors endured and, with a clear awareness of living in a globalized world, he thanks life for being able to carry the stories of his people.

More than half of his life has been devoted to Andean music, to winds, rondadores, flutes, quenas, strings, guitar, charango, violin, percussion, drum, and drums. When he talks about the Amazonian rhythms that he showcases on every stage where he performs, he swells with pride at his identity. Alongside his father and brothers, they play and sing their land in a group that honors brotherhood, called Katsatan in their Kamentsá language.

It was in Bogotá where he valued his origins more closely, and although he studied Physical Education, his land appeared to him every time he was asked to speak and tell about the Sibundoy Valley. Children stared at him amazed by the beauty of his stories and music, which is why he continues to be an ambassador for his territory wherever he’s asked. Craftsmanship, although it had always been there, was put in the spotlight.

And it came as a memory. Craftsmanship was part of his everyday landscape: he used to see the women of his family weaving, his grandmother with wool, and his mom and aunts with beads. Those are his earliest memories in this field, seeing himself holding a thread in his hand. Then, he leaned towards woodwork. His uncles would be his inspiration, and Taita Joaquín would be the one to teach him the art of carving. For years he worked for others, until the pandemic hit.

Like everyone else, he also had to “reinvent” himself. HIm and his family saw the need to become closer than ever and, in this way, drew the strength they didn’t know they had and that this tough situation demanded of them. That’s how they came up with the Jaguar Art and Design Workshop, specializing in feline masks in cedar and urapán wood, veneered with beads. There, they put to the test everything they knew, and beneath the animals with claws and penetrating eyes, they found their power. In the carvings, he has learned to capture the visions resulting from the yagé sessions, the medicine, as they call the sacred plant.

His mission is to rescue the identity of his people, to protect it by telling it. And he’s on the right path.