MEXICO CITY — Mexican composer Maria Leonora prepares for each concert as if preparing for battle.
Her makeup has a tribal feel to it. Her clothes are layered, which she sheds as the show progresses. An amulet above the navel serves as protection.
“I look in the mirror and it’s like I’m going to war,” she said before a recent presentation in Mexico City. “I’m preparing to walk through the fire, and whatever happens, happens.”
Her 2025 speeches were conceived as chapters connected by a common thread. She called the series “Through All the Fire,” believing that both music and flame carry a powerful, renewing quality.
“Fire can burn and destroy,” she said. “But if you manage, you can be reborn again.”
The same idea of warmth and renewal is present in the atmosphere of her show. Her concerts take inspiration from pre-Hispanic the steam bath known as the temazcal, which played a significant role in Mesoamerican social and religious life.
“You may suffer going into the temazcal, but you endure it,” she said. “You sweat and your ego gets crushed. Even if you don't mean to, the heat breaks you.”
Temazcales had a ritual function and cosmological significance for Mesoamerican cultures, writes archaeologist Agustin Ortiz in a publication from Mexico. National Institute of Anthropology and History.
Each bathhouse, built of stone or adobe, could accommodate dozens of people and produced steam by heating the stones before dousing them with water.
“Temazcal was seen as the bowels of the Earth and as a passage between the world of the living and underworld“,” Ortiz wrote. “It was intended as an entrance into the 'beyond'.”
Most of them were located near ceremonial ball courts, emphasizing their connection with the ritual aspect of the game.
Temazcales are still used today, but their earliest forms were found in Mayan cities such as Chichen Itza and Palenque, as well as in places such as Tlatelolco and Teotihuacan in central Mexico.
Maria Leonora felt the healing power of music at the age of 16.
She became interested in punk rock as a teenager going through a difficult period. And after learning to play the drums, she went on stage for the first time.
“I was able to change a lot of things just by playing and standing in front of an audience,” she said. “I can honestly say it saved my life.”
Since then, she has spent years playing with other musicians and exploring different genres.
In “Through All the Fire,” she interprets a variety of songs in an attempt to move her audience from darkness to a sense of renewal.
“Music is a powerful tool that can connect you to the Earth, to life, to the Universe and to other people,” she said. “It’s a vehicle for you to dig around and find something about yourself.”
She describes her shows as “immersive concerts,” meaning that sound, light and visuals play a role in creating attendee engagement.
“We want the audience to feel immersed in the atmosphere of each song,” said producer Diego Christian Saldaña. “In emotions and special sensations, music evokes what we intentionally seek.”
This intention is evident in the way the audience describes the experience.
In a video released by Mexico City's Ministry of Culture in late November, a young man who saw Maria Leonora perform three times said that each time it gave him deep satisfaction. Another woman noted that she felt tired before the performance, but left full of strength and desire to move on with her life.
“We constantly encourage people to actively participate,” she said. “Immerse yourself in an inner journey.”
“Through All the Fire” begins with her voice inviting viewers to cross the “circle of salt,” which means leaving the outside world behind.
As the light remains warm and gentle, her first song is about love. The repertoire then moves on to parting. The pain of separation is reflected on stage.
As the show progresses, Maria Leonora explores deeper emotions, gradually removing her makeup and removing layers of clothing. Then comes the climax.
“As my character is exhausted, he falls to the ground and starts breathing again,” she said. “There comes a moment to walk through the fire as if you were in a Temazcal.”
To free themselves with her, participants are encouraged to howl, scream, or participate in whatever ritual they feel they need. Freed from what weighs them down, they sing.
“Our latest song is like the first ray of light,” she said. “You can look back on your life and move forward into the light.”
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