IN STEREO

Urban people are extracting and copying and compiling rural rhythms. That’s how interesting [rural] style is. They are clearly taking purely rural dances and melodies. But in a way, that element is being conserved [while] it is evolving. It shows respect. But they’re rescuing it; that’s the interesting thing. They’re rescuing instruments and melodies from the rural area. That’s what I’ve seen lately. [But] there is a lot of research missing, which must be done. So that’s another kind of distortion. And that is the bad thing: when the research is not done, and it is not respected, that is the worst thing that can happen. And what’s happening in Chile [with them claiming our dances] is the result of that. We complain about that, [but] then we’re plagiarising here. So what can we expect, if we plagiarise and distort?

Actually, when one isn’t mindful about dance, it evolves – and that is being seen in some native peoples. For example, in Tinguipaya, the tinku [dance] is no longer the same. Before it was with sandals, but now they put on the boots of those who work in the mining companies. Others put on gloves. They have put on helmets, but motorcycle helmets. So it is changing there. There is no way to stop that. It is happening even in the very communities that can be said to be indigenous. And that is because there is no research work and there is no collaboration in the research, so that these types of projects can be preserved. The work we did [had] like a vision to deliver it to the community and the people so that it be kept in their library, so that their children and all of them will know what it was like before. – Lucho