Bolivia: Farewell to Aymara Hip Hop Artist Abraham Bojorquez

[Judi Lynn]

Bolivia: Farewell to Aymara Hip Hop Artist Abraham Bojorquez
Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009 @ 17:18 UTC
by Eduardo Avila

http://globalvoicesonline.org.nyud.net:8090/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/abraham.jpg

A blogger from El Alto, Alberto Medrano of Letras Alteñas remembers the first time he saw Bojorquez perform in Rio Seco in El Alto and how “many young people were left impressed with his cadenced rhythm of “Hip Hop” with an Andean flavor and with content of political protest and revolution, calling for justice for the bloody events of “October 2003.”

The events of October 2003 played prominently in the lyrics of Bojorquez. During that difficult time in El Alto, approximately 70 residents died during a conflict with the Armed Forces. The events have since become a rallying cry for those demanding justice.

In the early 1990s, Bojorquez emigrated to Brazil where he worked in a textile factory, but at the same time was introduced to hip hop. When he returned to El Alto, he started the group Ukamau y Ké and often rapped in the native indigenous language of Aymara. According to Cristina Quisbert of Bolivia Indigena , Bojorquez had “a particular style of combining hip hop with social order content and with valuing the Aymara culture, and won a place amongst the Alteño youth and in the places where he took his music and song.”

However, it was the coverage by the blog La Mala Palabra that provides much of the follow-up after his death and the subsequent displays of homage and remembrance by many who knew Bojorquez. The blog publishes pictures of the wake and funeral that show the outpouring of sympathy from those that knew him well, and those that simply admired his work. At the wake, many friends and family came to pay their respects:

More:
http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/06/03/bolivia-farewell-to-aymara-hip-hop-artist-abraham-bojorquez/