We urge you to not be fooled by the album’s simple title, as the musical evolution it represents is at once complex, colorful, intergenerational, multilayered and built on the confluence of many creative experiences and New York stories. INKARAYKU | INKA KUSI SONQO, is in many ways a sonic bridge between the contemporary performance of Andean folk music in NYC and the musical lineage from which this scene draws its identity. This is a musical lineage with its roots in the remote villages of the Andes mountain chain, but a history specific to NYC immigrant life.
The founding of pioneering Andean folk ensemble Tahuantinsuyo in the early 1970s, sparked the creation of an incredibly rich traditional Andean music scene in NYC. As migration from the Andean region of South America continued over the next five decades the following for these genres continued to grow, and the City saw the birth of a generation who would leave an indelible mark on its soundscape through increasingly New York-formed Andean traditions. The album’s musical director and founder of both Inka Kusi Sonqo and Inkarayku, Andres Jiménez, is a product of this generation, made in NYC, and asked to carry the torch of this musical practice within his community and for all the world to see. Born in Brooklyn, NY and a former member and apprentice of Tahuantinsuyo, Jimenez founded Inka Kusi Sonqo with his uncle in the 1990s as a group dedicated to Peruvian Quechua music and dance. In the mid 2000s he began to conceive of Inkarayku, a next generation group that would interpret, present and illustrate connections between traditional folk songs from Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador. In many ways, Jiménez’ career traces the evolution of Andean music in NYC, and Inkarayku represents the latest incarnation of its sound.
credits
released September 17, 2022
Inkarayku artists on this recording:
Carlos Moisés Ambia, Erico Benavente, Naomi Sturm-Wijesinghe, Adam Negrín, Benji Rosen, Andrés Jiménez
Additional current members of Inkarayku:
Romina Cárnica Navarro, Roxana Jiménez Quintanilla, and Rosa Maria Lazón
Previous members of Inkarayku:
Cesar Vele, Iván Vele, Fernando Leyva, Carlos Carmelo, Mauricio Quituizaca, Cesar Bayona, Omar Carrillo, Bryan Alulema, Sacha Chávez
Inka Kusi Sonqo artists on this recording:
Elva Ambia Rebatta, Raquel Ñahuis, Julián Márquez Gómez, Patrocínio José Lara Vargas
INKARAYKU is a Quechua word that means “because of the Incas.” Led by founder Andres Jiménez, the group seeks to link the
past, present and future of Andean arts, through the performance of indigenous musical forms. Inkarayku’s sound blends the organic power of Quechua folk songs with the energy and edge unique to our City that never sleeps....more
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