The Tocando Madera Foundation created, organizes and develops the Panamanian singer-songwriters movement since 2004. Discovering and launching new talents supporting the artistic development of those who already have a career as exponents of the country’s author song. We have more than 50 exponents in our ranks. Since 2011, Yigo Sugasti is the president of the Tocando Madera Foundation.
Producing to date more than 500 concerts of song by local author with touring stage Tocando Madera, the tour.
In 2005, Tocando Madera in the National Theater was the only activity of the Music Festival organized by the French Alliance of Panama.
In the last 12 years it is the only Panamanian organization with presence in Latin American music industry markets such as: Circulart and Boom (Colombia), Fimven (Venezuela), Sim (Brazil), Fifba (Argentina) and Imesur (Chile), among others .
He created and organized the only International Festival of the Song of Author of Panama 2006, 2008 and 2010, presenting artists from Panama, Spain, Mexico, the United States, Venezuela, Colombia and Brazil.
He produced the first multi-generational album of the first four generations of Panamanian author song Tocando Madera, the tour … in studio Vol.1 (2011) with singer-songwriters like: Emilio Regueira, Carlos Méndez, Rómulo Castro, Alejandro Lagrotta, Iván Barrios , Apache Ness and Rubén Blades among others.
Listen: https://tocandomadera.bandcamp.com/album/tocando-madera-la-gira-en-estudio-volumen-uno
Promoted a weekly program Tocando Madera Radio for three years (2013/2014 and 2015) of independent music from the country and Latin America.
Tocando MaderaTV monthly program during the years 2014 and 2015 that impelled the creators and interpreters of the new contemporary music of Panama, both for the platform of the state cultural and educational channel Sertv.
Since 2013, the regional artistic exchange began in our regular concert program, introducing Latin American singer-songwriters in Panama: Carla Morrison (Mexico), José Delgado (Venezuela), Jesús Garriga (Spain) and Nano Stern (Chile), among others.
In 2014, he is part of Musicalción with a whole night of Tocando Madera with the singer-songwriters: Alejandro Lagrotta (Panama), Joaquín Rodríguez (Veraguas), Javier Medina Bernal (Los Santos) and Horacio Valdés (Panama).
Between March and May of 2015, the first tour of the country sponsored by the INAC was held in 5 provinces. Herrera, Chiriquí, Veraguas, Darién and Coclé. We started the Panamanian Authors Cycle at the Cultural Center of Spain – Casa del Soldado.
On October 30, 2015 in Panama, the concert of Joan Manuel Serrat, icon of the Ibero-American song for the benefit of the Tocando Madera Foundation was held. The opening show was a sample of singer-songwriters of our movement.
During 2016 he made the XII season of Tocando Madera. On February 28, 2016, it inaugurated transmissions of the program Tocando Madera Radio by Telemetro Radio of the Medcom Corporation to date. That year he made a monthly program of 35 concerts and 40 radio programs with 24 Panamanian singer-songwriters invited live, 2 international Panamanian artistic representations, 2 educational workshops and 3 conferences with free admission to the public, we presented 3 international guest artists and participated representing Panama in 4 Ibero-American events. It initiated an alliance with the Yo Me Reciclo Fair, the backbone of the artistic programming of the first celebration of the Day of the Author and Panamanian Composer 2016.
In 2017 and 2018 he won the prize of the Ibermúsicas Program representing Panama, with the project of Artistic Residence – Sonoro Corridor, where Panamanian singer-songwriters traveled to Argentina, generating a cultural exchange via the song, proposing that Panama can and should become a hub of the regional and world song.
Since 2017 he has been producing two research albums without antecedents in our music scene: The Lords of Panamanians Calypso by Leslie George, a compendium of great successes (50s to 80s) of this Panamanian genre in extinction and Tocando Madera Vol.2, that presents the fifth generation of singer-songwriters in the country along with other singer-songwriters with a distinguished career, both of whom must leave next year.
In 2018, he starts the XIV season of recitals featuring the maestro Rómulo Castro at the prestigious and legendary Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago Illinois, USA.
He was co-organizer with the City of Knowledge Foundation of Trama – Industria de la Música, the first formal platform for strengthening the business within the Panamanian music scene. This year, the French Alliance of Panama awarded the Tocando Madera Foundation the honor of being the artistic producers and curators of the Music Festival, where they presented 25 musical projects of the country from different genres and an international guest.
In 2019 they celebrate XV years of activities, performing concerts of different formats, educational workshops related to the song and the music industry, they relaunch the international festival “Festival Tocando Madera” and they will continue reaffirming their media, research and avant-garde commitment in the region on the importance of Panamanian musical immaterial heritage as a source of culture and economy through the projects and programs of our agenda.
Fundación Tocando Madera is a member of ADIMI (Association for the Development of the Ibero-American Music Industry) and a founding member of MMF Latam (Latin American Association of Music Managers) and has a close relationship in music markets and festivals in Latin America.
See updated information of 2018 about Tocando Madera and its activities in:
https://www.facebook.com/fundaciontocandomadera