CHICHEN ITZA, Mexico (AFP) — Spanish tenor Placido Domingo said he will sing songs in the Maya language at a concert this weekend among pre-Hispanic pyramids in Chichen Itza, southeastern Mexico.
"I began talking to ethnic Mayas in this grandiose city and I'm confident that the god Chac (the rain god) will pardon us and allow it," Domingo told a news conference late Thursday at the site of some of the most spectacular Maya pyramids.
The Spanish tenor said the songs in Maya would be a surprise during Saturday's recital to some 5,000 people, including opera, zarzuela and local music.
He also praised the organizers for ensuring that spectators would avoid damaging the more than 1,500-year-old site, elected one of the seven wonders of the world in a recent Internet poll.
The concert was almost cancelled due to a complaint from the Archaeology Council of the Institute of Anthropology and History, who considers it a "danger ... for the conservation of pre-Hispanic ruins."
Domingo, however, sought to reassure critics that Mexican authorities would keep spectators away from the pyramids.
This "doesn't occur in other archaeological cities like Petra, Jordan, where I just performed and spectators climbed on the stones with a serious risk of ruining them," he said.
Domingo, 67, added that he often thought about whether he would keep singing forever.
"Every morning I think about it and I continue looking for unpublished works, after having sung 124 operas through my career," he said.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
