#josue maychi

[sol-nocturno]

Josué Maychi on teaching Maya to the Wakanda Forever cast and a word play in one of Namor's lines.

The actor told us about a word play that only Maya speakers can understand. ---spoiler ahead--- “There is a phrase that Namor says that I had to translate that goes: 'Máansa'ab u nej miis tin wich' which in Spanish literally means 'They passed the cat's tail in front of my face with the hope of an alliance'. If you see cats, jaguars or panthers wag their tails when they go hunting because it is a way of hypnotizing their prey, so that image is what happened to Namor, that someone did that to him with their tail. I proposed it to the director and he loved it, because it refers to the panther that warned Namor, ” he said. Josué Maychi told us that in English the phrase was translated as: "I was blinded with the hope of an alliance", which in Maya metaphorically means that someone was deceived, since in Spanish or English it is not literal.

Compillation of Namor's lines in Yucatec Mayan In the interview for Cultura Colectiva, Josué Maychi, who plays the shaman in Black Panther : Wakanda Forever, spoke about his experience in the film in which at the same time, he collaborated as the Yucatec Maya coach for Mabel Cadena and Tenoch Huerta, every day for a period of seven months. “No one knew anything about Maya and my first approach with the actors was to ask them if they could pronounce the consonants and sounds that do not exist in Spanish, English or other languages, and I was very happy to discover that they could pronounce them” he commented.

How was the process of teaching Maya? “We had sessions by Zoom and then in Atlantla we had scheduled meetings because I needed to listen to them. The first thing I taught them was the sound of the words, because in Maya there are five types of vowels that have to do with time, and if if they prolongued (a vowel) it can mean one thing or another. I asked them to imagine their lines as a melody and also gave them recorded audios to listen to, read and even write. For example, Mabel created her own way of writing, she created her own writing to have a personal approach to the language, ” he said.

Do you remember any funny anecdote? “There is a phrase that we say in the film that is Líik’ik Talokan, (there's Wakanda Forever) which is said by the people of Wakanda. Once, Álex Livinalli wrote to me and asked what we could say for the world we were creating, about the new universe and in Maya. I thought about it and thought it might be that phrase, which means something like 'Long live Talokan' or 'Rise Talokan'. I proposed it to them, they proposed it to the production, they loved it and it was integrated into the script, ” he said. Finally, the actor pointed out that the representation of indigenous languages ​​IS very important to him and mentioned that there are Mayan people who have proudly written him messages of gratitude, since they understood what they saw on the big screen.

[thevibraniumveterans]

“Black Panther Wakanda Forever” has a supporting cast of actors and actresses, without whom the story may not have been as effective. Sure, our main leads and the secondary characters are cool and awesome, and the story is amazing, but it’s people like the ones above who play small but very important roles in the story.

Having a young boy witness the trauma of his people be subject to horrors no child should be privy to, and hold on to that fear and rage with a grip so tight it transforms into vengeance that burns within a god-king hell-bent on protecting his people… little Manuel Chavez may not have been onscreen long, but his presence very much informed the charismatic K’uk’ulkan who is both filled with rage and kindness in equal measure.

Like Manuel, Irma-Estel LaGuerre and María Mercedes Coroy may not have been onscreen much, but their portrayal of a mother who, for the sake of her unborn son, must ingest a concoction to save both her and her people from the raging fires of colonialism resonates with many. In the film, K’uk’ulkan wonders what it is like to be a people in a pristine land who never have to leave. His mother loved him, cared for him, and wished for him to bury her in the land she loved so much, even if it was being desecrated by people who most certainly did not belong there to begin with. LaGuerre and Coroy portrayed a woman who had so much love to give, yet lost so much; it is to nobody’s surprise that her son adopted the name “Namor”, itself shortened from “el niño sin amor”, the child without love.

Without Josué Maychi, there may well not have been the inclusion of the Yucatec Mayan language in the film. Maychi’s role as the shaman who was guided by a god to retrieve a plant grown in Vibranium-rich soil to heal his smallpox-afflicted people is very important to the story, as without him, Talokan is as good as nonexistent. It is thanks to the shaman that Talokan was able to thrive as we see it do in the film.

María Telón Soc portrays a Mayan elder in the film. Her role, though small, is crucial as she is one of the guiding forces who help convince K’uk’ulkan mother to ingest the herbal drink to save her and her unborn son. Like the other actors and actresses mentioned above, she may not have been onscreen for long, but her presence informs the decisions we see the other Mayan-Talokanil make.

[comicavalcade]

[namorthesubmariner]

Behind the scenes with Josue Maychi as The Shaman 

(source)

[imperiuswrecked]

¡Líik’ik Talokan!

Talokan Rises!  Namor Week 2023 - Day 1 - Talokan or Atlantis

I commissioned this Talokan art from the wonderfully talented @pointdotiozao who did my Atlantis inspired art last year! Here is an alternate version on their blog!

Namor - Tenoch Huerta Attuma - Alex Livinalli Namora - Mabel Cadena  Princess Fen - Maria Mercedes Coroy The Shaman - Josue Maychi  The Scientist -  Jewelianna Ramos-Ortiz (the Talokanil woman on the far right, she was in the extra cut scenes of Wakanda Forever as the Talokanil Scientist and I wanted to include her in the art) And the Talokanil!

[uncuentofriki]

Went to watch Wakanda forever again, I had to wait for my sister for a while, and I am thinking a lot about this two posters.

All the actors in the first production (El poderoso victoria) are talented and have a big trajectory behind them, I'm not gonna deny it. But so far you have seen photos of Mabel Cadena, Tenoch Huerta, Josue Maychi and all the talocani people even on this site, how do they look out of scenes (and the brief scenes underwater where you can see their natural skin color). And then compare the people that are up and front on national productions on Mexico. And yes I would like to spark a conversation.

[namorthesubmariner]

A new behind the scenes look at The Shaman played Josue Maychi in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

[namorthesubmariner]

Happy Birthday to Josue Maychi who played The Shaman in Wakanda Forever! 🥳