Gyan Marcos

Gyan Marcos crossed to the other shore early this morning (11th May) at 2.45 am in Vilcabamba, Ecuador.

Born in Mexico City, son of Mexican-American renowned painter Frank Gonzalez, and of Spanish-American psychologist Gloria Balbona, Gyan Marcos breathed from his early days an atmosphere of art and intellectual pursuit, two trends that would accompany him through all his life.

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A perfectionist virgo by birth and a bit of a wonder kid he acted as a child in some movies but was soon immersed in his interest for music, which would become an all-consuming passion as a teenager. A rebel at heart, he quit school’s rules and regulations and, preferring to become a self-taught man, went for a life on the road, playing in several Mexican bands.

By the early Seventies, living in Madison, Wisconsin, he founded the Reggae band ‘Roots’ where he sang and played guitar, becoming a local celebrity.

By the early Eighties he met Osho, took sannyas and opened back in Mexico with Rupesh and friends the first Mexican Osho Center in the town of Tepoztlan, yet soon took off for the Ranch where he became a pipe crew leader.

After the Ranch it was back to Mexico and music; a blend of rock and reggae with magnificent guitar work and his own raspy voice had led him, through bands like ‘Árbol’, to the creation of ‘El Rey Pacheco y la gran Pachanga’, and in the late Eighties to the making of ‘Renacer’, his first cd, with the help of Satgyan, Praful, Rupesh, Rishi and friends, featuring “Todos queremos amor” and other original songs which he presented at the Hard Rock Café in Mexico City and the World over.
Fed up with city life he moved to the Riviera Maya where he became a hotel manager for a while and then to San Cristóbal, Chiapas, where he met sculptress Irene Abrahams, a young Austrian potter who would become in time the mother of his two beautiful daughters, Lian and Gyana.

Gyan Marcos’ growing concern for the state of the world led him to Ecuador where he finally settled in the village of Vilcabamba, in a valley known for the longevity of its people at the feet of the Mandango mountain; in the Nineties he acquired a run down hotel and turned it into a beautiful temple, spa and restaurant, ‘The Hidden Garden’. A successful investor and entrepreneur, he combined his growing interest for alternative means of energy supply and alternative living with music gigs around the globe.

One of his most cherished dreams was to set up a commune in Vilcabamba where all his friends could live. A commune based on work, trust, love and awareness, as Osho would have it! He was the first of the pack to foresee the “shift hittin’ the fan” and take it seriously. A definite pundit, he knew well the nooks and crannies of the Matrix, spent hours reading about it, pondering about it, getting ready for it.

A man known for putting action where he puts his mouth – and his music – he even went to Chile in search for a better place to make it happen. A small commune, if any, was his best shot for surviving the holocaust he firmly believed to come. So he set himself for it. And, to top it up, he came out with yet another jewel concocted with the aid of some nifty cats: the mega funky, salsy and supremely tasty ‘The Shiva Bandits’, a superbly crafted compilation of 18 songs, mantras, devotional vudu anthems, mad didjeridoo and heavy Afro-Antillian rhythms cut by amazing bass lines, trumpets, an icy piano and flashing guitar picks and slashes. An absolute treat to the ear that would have made Miles Davis wink a smile.

An amazing father, he set himself the task of educating his own daughters, which he adored, an art at which he, also, excelled. In his free time, when he wasn’t travelling, building, planning, organizing, playing his guitar, riding his bike or taking care of business as usual, he used to take photographs, remarkable for their sense of precision and beauty.

A man of many talents, he was also an incredible friend who helped a lot of people and was truly loved and cherished by many. An ever enquiring sannyasin,  after Osho’s death Marcos sat with Sandarshi and Ramesh for a while and then increased his meditation with a deep knowledge of American medicinal plants and their profound power for transformation, to the point of him being made a shaman by the Taitas in Columbia. It was thus, with the unbreakable spirit of a warrior, that he confronted his long, hard and strenuous illness. Till the very last day. He passed away peacefully, surrounded by love.

As the old Hopi saying goes, a new star is born now in heaven, may beauty be now all around him.

Text by Dharmesh

Links

On this web page you can hear a recording of Marcos singing ‘Circle of Light’ (29th of August 2010), with contributions from Rishi (keyboards and drums), Haridas (santoor), Yasser Pino (bass), Andres Condon (charango), Navino (additional vocals), which were added later: soundcloud.com

Pictures from the gig the 28th August 2010: happylivingmedia.com

Tributes

You can leave a message / tribute / anecdote here…

As the other guitarist from ‘Roots’ I had the honor and blessing to have worked with Marcos. I shall always love and admire the man and his music “the wind knows his name now it is part of the song it sings to the stars.”
Michael Stone

It has been a honor to have met you and known you as a friend. I wish I had spent more time with you but, alas, that is now irrelevant. I hope your journey was a good one. You have truly been one of the most colorful and amazing people I have ever met. May you have the rest you deserve in the embrace of the universe, the source of all that is. Hasta nos vemos otra vez amigo….
Rick

Paco querido, que bonito, tendrias que escribir el libro de la vida de Gyan Marcos, tambien en español. Marquituuuus es Leo mi vida. Un amor y luz eterno maestro guia. Gracias
Jana

Dearest Paco, how beautiful, you would have to write the book of the life of Gyan Marcos, also in Spanish. Marquituss is Leo. A love a light and eternal guide and teacher. Namaste
Jana

As a stranger in Vilcabamba, Marcos took me to the heart of his spiritual community and his home. An experience that was to change the path of my life forevermore. I cannot thank him enough. Brightest blessings on him and his family. Eternally grateful,
Kay