(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MIRANDO LA MISMA LUNA")
RENATA FLORES: (Singing in Quechua).
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
It's not Spanish, and it's not Latin. Quechua is a language all its own. Around 10 million people speak it in countries such as Peru and Colombia. Sisa Quispe is one of those 10 million. She says rap, hip-hop, trap and even Quechua or Q-pop artists are making names for themselves far beyond the Andes and spreading the Indigenous language.
SISA QUISPE: The beauty of Quechua is that it is an oral language. And it is through the songs that we get to know more about parts of the history. So singing and dancing and playing music is very important in Quechua culture because it helps to preserve the culture.
(SOUNDBITE OF RENATA FLORES SONG, "THE WAY YOU MAKE ME FEEL (VERSION QUECHUA)")
QUISPE: So one of the artists that have been a huge inspiration for me as a woman is Renata Flores, and she's only 23 years old. She's from Ayacucho, a little, very strong city from the Andes in Peru. And she started to sing a cover that she did about this song, "The Way You Make Me Feel" from Michael Jackson.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE WAY YOU MAKE ME FEEL (VERSION QUECHUA)")
FLORES: (Singing in Quechua).
QUISPE: It went viral. Eventually, she realized that, oh, I want to make my music, but fell in love with hip-hop because she felt that it was a way to be straightforward and to just tell you things as the way they are.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "JUNTOS SONAMOS MEJOR")
FLORES: (Rapping in Quechua).
QUISPE: She actually has been named by the New York Times as the Queen of Quechua rap. And even though she is, like, tiny and super-cute and she has a beautiful voice, she can be really straightforward and tell you things as it is through her songs.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "JUNTOS SONAMOS MEJOR")
FLORES: (Rapping in Quechua).
QUISPE: And we are also not limited to rap, trap or hip-hop. There is actually this amazing musician. His name is Lenin Tamayo, and he brought to the table a combination of K-pop with Quechua.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "INTIRAYMI")
LENIN: (Singing in Quechua).
QUISPE: And, of course, one of the pioneers of this wave has been Liberato Kani. He has been singing in rap and hip-hop for several years. His family - they're from the Huaylas. They are well-known in Peru because it's resilient and feeling proud of who they are as Quechuas.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "KAYKUNAPI")
LIBERATO KANI: (Rapping in Quechua).
QUISPE: So the fact that right now there's many young Quechua people singing in rap, trap, Q-pop, which is Quechua pop. It's a way to promote our language and also break this stereotype that Quechua is not considered a language, is not something that you feel proud to speak and that Quechua is for the lower class. They're sending a message, and it's a message of empowerment.
CHANG: That was Sisa Quispe talking about the spread of music in the Quechua language. Here's a little more from Q-pop artist Lenin.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "KUTIMUNI")
LENIN: (Singing in Quechua). Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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