Soy Medicina by Xtis

Soy Medicina is the first full-length release by Xtis, a traditional Mayan therapist, healer, and singer from Guatemala’s Mam territory. Sung in Spanish and Mam, one of the most endangered Mayan languages, the album is both a deeply personal act of healing and a rare expression of Indigenous knowledge through contemporary sound.

The Mam language, once widely spoken in the western highlands of Guatemala, now survives only in fragments. Many words have been lost, not passed down, erased by colonization and systemic neglect. In this context, Soy Medicina is not only music, but an act of preservation. A way to keep ancestral memory alive through melody, rhythm, and breath.

Each song speaks to a different facet of womanhood as experienced through a Mayan lens. Cargadora De Historia honors the role of women as the carriers of memory and ancestral knowledge, both divine and undervalued, central to existence yet often erased. In Abuela Luna, a woman calls out for help after abuse under the moonlight. Here, Grandmother Moon becomes a source of medicine and listening, a feminine symbol of refuge that holds both pain and power.

The music is grounded in Mayan healing traditions but shaped by Xtis’ lived experiences: years of institutional abuse, social exile, spiritual repression, and finally, rebirth. She taught herself to sing and compose while enduring twelve years in a convent where she was silenced and mistreated. Later diagnosed with leukemia, she turned away from conventional medicine and embraced her ancestral roots, co-founding Casa Biosalud Ancestral Kyaje Ix to bring Mayan healing to her community.

Soy Medicina is the result of that healing journey. It’s a record about survival, womanhood, and identity, not polished for mass appeal, but raw, real, and rooted in a centuries-old cultural lineage. It’s also a sonic preservation of a language that is at risk of vanishing; a reminder that when culture is erased, so are stories, voices, and possibilities for healing.

Xtis: Voice of Ancestral Wisdom and Healing

From the heart of Tuixoquel village in Comitancillo, San Marcos, Guatemala, emerges Xtis - a profound embodiment of Mayan resilience, cultural preservation, and transformative art. Her name, which translates to "Justice", is a powerful declaration of her life's mission.