Sacred Songs and Decolonial Collective Voices from Elvira Espejo Ayca's Voice. Kirki Qhañi. Petaca de las poéticas andinas (2022)

Abstract

This article-interview with the poet Elvira Espejo Ayca discusses the process of recovering the sacred songs of the Aymara and Quechua indigenous communities through the oral tradition from her grandmother Gregoria Mamani and her great-great-grandmother Martina Pumala. The song-poems preserve Inca meanings and aesthetics that the indigenous people used during Colonization to maintain good relations with the Spanish domain and, in turn, mask those referring to the Inca deities. Some songs have been taken up to unravel the lyrical resources of colonial times and recreate the original songs of the ancestors with the community of Kurmi Wasi School in Bolivia, a musical production that was recorded under the name of Sami Kirki in 2018, which was included in the last Espejo’s book Kirki Qhañi (2022).