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Through K-pop and Quechua, singer Lenin Tamayo celebrates his Andean roots | Music<\/p>\n
Lima, Peru \u2013<\/strong> Strolling up the neoclassical steps of Peru\u2019s Supreme Court with a technicolour Indigenous shawl draped over one shoulder, Lenin Tamayo is keenly aware of the power of symbolism.<\/p>\n The 23-year-old Peruvian singer has shot to viral fame in recent months \u2014 earning millions of views on TikTok \u2014 thanks to his novel genre of music, which fuses influences from across continents and cultures.<\/p>\n He blends Korean beats, Andean folklore and subversive imagery, in some cases taking aim at the administration of President Dina Boluarte through his music.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to inspire others,\u201d said Tamayo, who sings in Quechua, an Indigenous language spoken by the Incas and still used by an estimated 10 million people across South America. \u201cI want love to unite us, to unite our people.\u201d<\/p>\n Tamayo\u2019s music, which adds a Quechua twist to Korea\u2019s K-pop music, has been dubbed \u201cQ-pop\u201d. Each song from his debut album Amaru, released in August, is inspired by Incan mythology. The title itself refers to a mythic double-headed snake.<\/p>\n In his performances, Tamayo dances flamboyantly \u2014 using the highly choreographed dance moves of a K-pop star \u2014 to a backing of traditional Andean musical instruments such as pan flutes and rain sticks.<\/p>\n Although he was born in the capital Lima, Tamayo was raised in the culture of the Andes Mountains, the ancestral home of the Incas and other Indigenous groups.<\/p>\n As the only child of Yolanda Pinares, an Andean artist who sings in Spanish and Quechua, Tamayo grew up listening to a broad range of Latin American folk music.<\/p>\n He often waited for his mother backstage, as she juggled stage performance with busking and bartending.<\/p>\n Pinares wove Andean tradition into Tamayo\u2019s everyday life. She would even pack his school lunchbox with foods from the Peruvian highlands such as \u201ccancha\u201d \u2014 toasted corn kernels \u2014 and \u201ctarwi\u201d, an Andean legume.<\/p>\n But those lunchtime snacks raised eyebrows among his schoolmates in the capital. That, combined with his timid demeanour and atypical looks \u2014 a skinny frame, bushy eyebrows and pronounced cheekbones \u2014 led to bullying.<\/p>\n \u201cI felt this internalised racism,\u201d he said. \u201cI was timid as a boy.\u201d<\/p>\n Music has long been a way for Tamayo to process his struggles. He first took to the stage at age seven with his mother. By age 14, he was writing songs for her. Later, he learned to use social media to promote her work.<\/p>\n But he went in his own direction when he started to pen his own songs at age 22.<\/p>\n \u201cI was born on the stage,\u201d Tamayo said. \u201cBut it was different when I began to write my own songs.\u201d<\/p>\n