Kuyayky

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Kuyayky is one of the most popular and newly influential bands in Andean music. The band has contributed to the prominence and revival of huayno music from central Peru. One of the only Andean music bands with a majority of female members. The band now resides in the United States and gained a following from world music fans for its traditional yet innovative style of Peruvian Music.

Kuyayky has struck a chord by rearranging and researching dozens of musical pieces from the precolonial and colonial periods in Latin America, but have retained a clear emphasis on the music of central Peru. They are part of the Xauxa ayllu of the Bonilla family.

[edit] History

Kuyayky was founded by ethnomusicologist Jose Hurtado Zamudio and composer Edda Bonilla in 1980 in the town of Jauja. Kuyayky's original members are the Hurtado Bonilla sibblings: Rubi Indira in guitar and first voice, Jose Luis in the mandolin and fourth voice, Yina in the charango and second voice, Mariluz in the quena, sikus, cajón and third voice, and Candy in the bombo leguero and first voice. They have been known to collaborate with different musicians in distinct musical genres.

Kuyayky also founded the Kuyayky Foundation a non-governmental organization that fosters cultural awareness and aids Andean youth through the online education program YachayWorld.

The band takes its name from the Quechua language, which translates from the verb "kuyay" love, meaning "to love" or "solidarity".

In November 2006, the release of Kuyayky's new album was featured in an investigative report by Enrique Flor of Peruvian television newsmagazine La Ventana Indiscreta on Frecuencia Latina.