A Great Bolivian Hip-Hop Has Left Us

Readers:

If you have been in touch recently with certain communities of young people, artists, or the politically active in Bolivia, you know that an enormous loss has been suffered among them.

A young man widely admired for both his art and his essence died two weeks ago, Abraham Bojorquez, the El Alto youth who helped invent Aymaran Hip Hop.

A number if important tributes have been written to Abraham by people who knew him.

One of those who admired his music is Aldo Orellana of the Democracy Center, who boarded a bus to La Paz as soon as he heard to the news to go to Abraham's memorial service and participated in the service for him as well in Cochabamba a week ago.

Here is Aldo's personal tribute, from one young Bolivian man to another.

Jim Shultz


A Great Bolivian Hip-Hop Has Left Us

Written by Aldo Orellana, with translation from Kris Hannigan-Luther and Leny Olivera

This past Friday, May 29, several groups of young people gathered in the city of Cochabamba to pay tribute to the Bolivian Hip Hop singer, Abraham Bojorquez, who died on Wednesday May 21 in a tragic traffic accident. This tribute was held in the square "September 14" in the center of Cochabamba and the people who attended enjoyed the music of Abraham, while viewing his videos, photos, interviews, etc. There were also two musical groups that performed indigenous music and some Hip-Hop in the style of our friend, Abraham.

Who was “Ukamau y Ke”?

Abraham Bojorquez, whose stage name was "Ukamau y Ke" (which means in Aymara "This is how it is and so what" meaning I am Indian and so what), was an alternative hip hop singer who lived in the city of El Alto. For all of his actions, Abraham was considered by many in Bolivia to be a companion in the struggle and a blood brother, like no other.

On many occasions, Abraham was able to sing in the city of Cochabamba, shouting loud and proud of being Indian and doing so within a racist system and society . Abraham was a full time activist. He worked for the radio station of an alternative cultural center of the city of El Alto. All of his songs have a strong message of liberation and denouncing.

Abraham reached the hearts of thousands of outcast young people who, persecuted by racism, used to hide their ethnicity, their language and background. They no longer hide their background, because Abraham taught them to be proud of their roots.

The most distinctive and unique thing about Abraham is that he also sang Hip Hop in Aymara, so the older people also knew and understood him.

As a child, Abraham suffered a childhood similar to that which now, in this moment, many children continue to suffer in the cities in Bolivia: The lack of the most fundamental right to live with dignity and the repercussions of an indifferent society. For this reason, Abraham had a high sensitivity towards street children and for people who are suffering life‘s hardships.

When Abraham was young he created the band, "Ukamau y Ke", where he began to turn the art and culture of Hip Hop into an instrument of struggle, of denouncing and proposing alternatives. Abraham said that Hip Hop is not originally ours, but it is a good tool to reach young people. He used Hip Hop for this purpose.

Abraham belonged to that movement. To that day to day struggle to eradicate racism and to transform the unjust economic system. He wanted to use his message to transform the beliefs that people are poor because it is their destiny to be so and that discrimination is something natural. He demonstrated that the system is wrong and has deep faults (as says one of his songs). The system is made by people, and therefore it can change.

For all of these reasons, when it was learned of his death, everyone realized that this meant a very hard blow to the Bolivian social movements and even Latin America.

His Friends

Much has been written about Abraham, many beautiful stories about his life, his work, his message, and so on. But we want to show a different perspective, a perspective that arose from his death, by sharing some of the messages of his closest friends who wrote from their hearts. Below are some excerpts from those writings.

Huáscar Rodriguez, a musician friend of Abraham who started to play with him, wrote a nice farewell on "The rap in the veins". He wrote, "Many die late, and a few die too early. The latter is the case with Abraham Bojorquez, known as "Ukamau y Ke" the lucid Aymara from El Alto who became the best that Bolivia has had within the field of hip-hop. "

"His lyrics, frank and intelligent, always smiling and expressing strong emotions, as a musician, different from the stereotype of the American gangster rapper, adorned with gold chains .... Abraham was always different from this commercial stereotype. He rescued one of the real roots of reggae rhythm which emerged during the 1980’s from the slums in the United States, for which no instruments are required. Voice, creativity and passion are enough…to create rhythmic and powerful music accompanied with messages of social criticism. "

"... You will always live in our hearts. We will always remember you ... Your absence is irreparable. Your absence is a disaster. However, your legacy is immense. Already a transcendent myth. The best hip-hop singer in the country. A milestone in the contemporary music of Bolivia. I know that your example will inspire generations for decades to come. I pay a pale tribute to your memory."

"Abraham: you go, but you stay" is the title of a farewell written by friends Paty, Baby, Giovi, Claudia, Coco, Ivan and Marxa, of the Independent Media Center of La Paz,: "Art, culture, communication, revolution, and his friends all lost Ukamau y Ke. Abraham left us physically, but he will be with us forever, with his ideas, his smile, his work and his endless willingness to "do things" to change the injustice, inequality and discrimination. "" You believed in your art, Abraham and in our ability to join together to change the world, so much so that all our activities and cultural and political events became a party and a revolutionary act. Many times you called our attention to our passiveness and indifference. Thanks to you brother, we have returned to the streets to take actions ... "In memory of all the living, we give you a big hug, wherever you are, until we are reunited."

Otto Colpari, another friend, wrote, "I did not expect you to go so far away from us, and the pain of it invades my hopes, the struggle in your voice is not lost yet ... Brother, remember that we shared our resistance in Cochabamba, with our dark skin and with your voice, our words of self-determination, our resistance to the system, and our dreams of freedom ... Your absence leaves us in a deep abyss. I feel a physical pain from your absence…I am filled with fear that I will lose my memories. But now I know that your absence is our struggle ... "

A youth group called "Katari” (Snake in Aymara) wrote," Abraham, you were big. Your strength and pride shone through your presence. Better known than all of us put together, you were the most humble of all. You were always faithful to your principles, you lived them, you shared them, you proclaimed them. We only wish a little of you would be cultivated in us ... to see with our own eyes, the future that you dreamed of. "

Farewell

Now Abraham, at 26 years of age, has died. He is no longer physically with us.

The day of his funeral many friends visited him, to tell him things one last time.

Some of his friends sang to the rhythm of Hip Hop adding to the last farewell tears from the audience. It was a dark day, very dark.

To finish, I would like to quote a beautiful thing that was said of Abraham that day of his funeral, while he lay lifeless in a white wooden box.

"Abraham has not gone away from us all, to the contrary, he is now closer to us all, as Abraham has become Achachila." An Achachila is an Andean deity, a protector of the Aymara people. Achachilas are considered the immense mountain ranges of the Bolivian Altiplano, where all living spirits of the ancestors of the Aymara people reside. "Then Abraham, as an Achachila, will be able to protect us, guide us, and advise us as we are all in the struggle for a better world ...."

Jallalla Ukamau y Ke!! Jallalla Abraham!!

Note: Here are many stories attached that have been made about Abraham Bojorquez and his work, including a beautiful video produced by the School for International Training with English subtitles.

We’re all Fighters. Hip-Hop in El Alto, Bolivia (Video produced by the SIT)
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Abraham’s Last Rap: Bolivian Hip-Hop Hero Dies in El Alto
Tribute by Ben Dangl

Young Bolivians Adopt Urban U.S. Pose, Hip-Hop and All.
A 2005 New York Times profile

Various of Abraham's songs and videos