Talk: Indigenous Languages w/ Renata Flores

Music plays a vital role in preserving and developing language cultures worldwide. Renata Flores is a prime example of this. Through her blend of urban genres and her use of the Quechua language, she has given Peruvian music a fresh, modern twist while helping to revitalize an indigenous language fighting for its place in the modern world.

Quechua was the official language of the ancient Inca Empire, which stretched from southern Colombia, through Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia, to northern Argentina and northern Chile. Today, it is spoken by around 10 million people in the Andes mountains of South America. It holds official language status in Peru and Bolivia, as well as in parts of Ecuador. While traditionally viewed as a single language, most linguists consider it to be an entire language family.

Born in 2001 in the Ayacucho region, Flores rose to prominence in 2015 after uploading Quechua versions of Michael Jackson’s "The Way You Make Me Feel" and The Animals’ "House of the Rising Sun" to YouTube. The videos went viral, and since then, part of her artistic mission has been to promote Quechua through contemporary music, making the language more appealing to younger generations.

On Saturday at 3:00 PM during the Oslo World festival, we invite you to a conversation with Flores about her use of Quechua as a musical language.