The iconic voice of Luzmila Carpio rings out from the Andes, spreading messages of indigenous struggle, female empowerment and unceasing love for both the people and planet around us. An undeniable icon of Bolivian Andean culture whose career spans multiple decades, Luzmila has released more than 25 albums (there’s a reason that Rolling Stone described her as”one of the most prolific indigenous singers of South America”), inspiring millions while singing in both her native Aymara-Quechua language and Spanish.

As a small child, she learned the daily songs of the Quechua and Aymara indigenous peoples that inhabit the Bolivian Altiplano. Contrary to the prevalent trend of modernization, she started looking deeper into the cultural and musical ways of the Andes and singing in Quechua, rather than Spanish. The main ingredient was not to please the audiences that kept growing but rather to use her music as an expression of rebellion against the predominance of western cultural ways over indigenous ones, as a way to build more harmonious relationships among the peoples of the world. Her early compositions are until today considered by many as a symbol for oppressed cultures.

In the early 1980s, she established in Paris to continue her musical evolution and be taken seriously as an artist. She then created something more profound than urban folklore. Throughout her collaborations with musicians from various genres, Luzmila Carpio skillfully weaved together indigenous sounds with modern instrumentation. She created a fusion that is both authentic and innovative, allowing her to appeal to a broader audience while maintaining the essence of her cultural heritage. This led her to win a Diapason d'Or in 2000, a prestigious award of outstanding music recordings given by reviewers of Diapason magazine in France.

In 2015, ZZK Records remixed her recently re-released Unicef album from the 1990’s Yuyay Jap'ina Tapes to create the album Luzmila Carpio Meets ZZK. The album received critical acclaim and was described as "futuristic shamanism" by VICE and as "a condensation of tradition and futurism, of past and contemporary, organic sounds and digital rhythms" by RFI and both albums were listed in the top 10 Latin Albums of the Year by Rolling Stone Magazine.

In her recent compositions, Luzmila Carpio delves into themes that not only resonate with her indigenous heritage but also hold significance for younger generations. She explores the issues of cultural identity, empowerment of women in society, environmental preservation, and the importance of indigenous spirituality in a rapidly changing world.

By fearlessly blending tradition with innovation and using her music as a means of social commentary, Carpio represents more than ever the avant-garde spirit within the indigenous music scene, pushing boundaries and breaking new grounds.

Yet Luzmila Carpio isn’t someone who’s content to simply rest on her laurels; she continues to take risks—and push her music into vibrant new soundworlds. On new album Inti Watana: El Retorno del Sol (her first LP in a decade), she’s teamed up with Argentinian producer Leonardo Martinelli (a.k.a. Tremor), a ZZK veteran who’s spent the bulk of his career finding the common ground between Latin American folk rhythms and modern electronics. Building off the momentum created by 2015’s Luzmila Carpio Meets ZZK collection—in which her music was reworked by not only Tremor, but standout electronic artists like Nicola Cruz, Chancha Vía Circuito and El Búho—this new album is meant to stretch across genres, generations and continents, with Luzmila’s sonorous, occasionally birdsong-inspired vocalizations gracefully gliding amongst ambient textures, programmed beats and (of course) a bevy of traditional instrumentation from around the globe.

Inti Watana: El Retorno del Sol is out now on vinyl and all digital platforms