Queens-based Inkarayku brings Andean arts and culture to Beat of the Boroughs
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Naomi Sturm-Wijesinghe of Jackson Heights is manager and resident ethnomusicologist of Inkarayku.
By Andres Jimenez and Naomi Sturm-Wijesinghe
As told to the Eagle
Andres Jimenez of Woodside is founder and musical director, and Naomi Sturm-Wijesinghe of Jackson Heights is manager and resident ethnomusicologist of Inkarayku, which preserves and promotes Andean arts and culture through the performance and education of indigenous music forms.
The Queens-based group is featured in the Center for Traditional Music and Dance’s Beat of the Boroughs: NYC Online series, which is showcasing the artistry of 54 of the city’s leading immigrant performers and diverse cultural traditions from around the world.
How did your musical journey begin?
Inkarayku is in many ways a sonic bridge between the contemporary performance of Andean folk music in New York City 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 city 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 New York City. 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 band’s founder and musical director, Andres Jiménez, is a product of this generation, made in New York City, and asked to carry the torch of this musical practice within his community and for all the world to see. Born in Brooklyn 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 the city, and Inkarayku represents the latest incarnation of its sound.
Andres Jimenez of Woodside is founder and musical director of Inkarayku. Photos courtesy of Inkarayku
What drew you to Queens?
The group is made up of a mix of native New Yorkers of Andean ancestry (born and raised in Queens and Brooklyn) as well as more recent immigrants from Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador. Several members are also from other diverse cultural backgrounds as is typical of New York City musical groups.
Rather than be drawn to Queens for a specific reason, we understand it as our home and the place that gives us and our community life in this great urban metropolis. For us, Queens is where we have family, access to a diverse Andean community of which we are a part, and can trace our roots going back several generations.
What makes your music distinctive?
We are not the actual composers; we are interpreting traditional melodies and rhythms from Andean folklore or by Andean artists primarily from Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru. What makes Andean music distinctive are the beautiful melodies from many different genres and many different rhythms. These melodies are famous because of the universal attraction to the sounds of the Andean flutes, such as the zampoña, the Andean panpipe, or the quena, the Andean flute.
Another distinction is the sound of the charango which is a small guitar-like native Andean instrument. It has a very sweet and appealing sound and can be used for melodies and accompaniment.
What inspires your musical repertoire?
We try to play songs that make people want to get up and dance. We are not the type of Andean band that plays soft relaxing meditation music. We are playing music from genres that actually are dance music, there are traditional dances and movements that go together with the music. Of course, we also choose songs with beautiful melodies and vocals. We are also not the type of Andean band who plays only instrumentals, we actually sing in Spanish or in Quechua. We want to play music that energizes people in our live shows.
What is next for you?
We are pleased to announce that in 2021 we will be releasing our first studio album entitled “Inkarayku | Inka Kusi Sonqo”. The album’s sound blends the organic power of Quechua folk songs with the energy and edge unique to our City that never sleeps, while the band’s diverse line-up, brings together a river of musical and artistic experience resulting in Andean folk music that transcends cultural boundaries and seamlessly shares the stage with other folk traditions of the Americas.
The album will be available via Spotify, Band Camp and our website. There will also be a limited edition run of physical CDs complete with liner notes and album artwork. We plan to do a full virtual roll out including a series of live streamed release concerts with after parties. Please join our mailing list via our website and follow us on social media for more info @inkarayku.
You can watch Inkarayku on Sunday, Dec. 20 at 6 p.m. at https://www.youtube.com/user/CTMDProgramsConcerts or Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/CTMDnyc. Learn more about Inkarayku at www.inkarayku.com.
