Kuskalla#26: Karumanta Qamurqani w/ Jonathan Ritter [English]

The Red Nation Podcast

The Red Nation

History, Society & Culture

4.8 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 6 July 2025

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

***Producer's note: This is a preview of the latest episode of Kuskalla, a trilingual (Quechua-Spanish-English) podcast produced by Red Media and hosted by our comrades Yojana Miraya Oscco and Renzo Aroni. Listen to the full episode on the Kuskalla podcast feed***

In this episode, I talked with Jonathan Ritter, who is the Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology and Chair of the Department of Music at the University of California, Riverside. We discussed his viral Quechua Pumpin song "Karumanta Qamurqani" (I have come from far away). Characterized by a carnivalesque style, Pumpin is often interpreted as testimonial music from the Fajardo province in Ayacucho, a central region deeply impacted by the Peruvian internal armed conflict between the Maoist Shining Path guerrillas and Peruvian state security forces, lasting from 1980 to 2000. This conflict resulted in nearly 70,000 deaths, primarily affecting Quechua-speaking Indigenous peasants in this region, as noted in the 2003 report of Peru's Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

In 2001, shortly after the conflict ended, the Truth Commission began its efforts in communities throughout the Pampas River valley in central Ayacucho, where the Pumpin enjoys popularity. A year earlier, Jonathan Ritter started his fieldwork in the village of Colca for his dissertation focused on this music. After mastering the Pumpin guitar, he composed his song "Karumanta Qamurqani" to perform at the newly relaunched Pumpin contest held on the Waswantu plateau in February 2001. This contest had been on hold since 1983 when government security forces shut it down, targeting locals for allegedly supporting the Shining Path guerrillas. In February 2002, he performed his song again, and Asto Producciones filmed it for the first time on video cassette.

In this episode, we talk about how Pumpin transforms from traditional music into a powerful form of testimony that recounts wartime experiences and survival in the aftermath. We then examine the lyrics of "Karumanta Qamurqani," discussing their meanings and the song's reception both during the live performance in Waswantu and after its 2008 upload to YouTube. The response from Peruvians sheds light on issues of race, class, and identity, as well as the reclamation of Quechua language and culture in the post-war context.

This episode is dedicated to Alejandro Mendonza Alca from Colca, Jonathan Ritter's mentor and maestro of Pumpin, who sadly passed away a few years ago.

For more information on Pumpin music and its history, check out Jonathan Ritter's articles, including "Carnival of Memory: Songs of Protest and Remembrance in the Andes," published by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings in 2013.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Yatchu, Wahhipaneikuna, Yapaa, Masikuna, Newham Renzo Aroni Kani.
0:06.5	Hello everyone, my name is Renzo Aroni.
0:09.3	I'm an assistant professor of indigenous studies at NYU.
0:14.0	What you have just here is Ketchua, my native language.
0:18.5	If you're not familiar with Ketua, this is the most widely spoken
0:22.7	indigenous language in the Americas, with approximately 10 million speakers, primarily in South
0:30.3	American Indian countries and the diaspora communities such as in the New York area.
0:36.8	I'm the host of the Cuskaya podcast, which features conversations on Ketua and Andial
0:42.4	Knowledge in the Diaspora.
0:45.0	The show you're about to listen to is produced by Red Media, and we hope everyone who
0:50.9	subscribes to the Red Nation podcast checks out and listens to the Akuskaya podcast.
0:57.6	This episode features my conversation with ethnomusicologist Jonathan Ritter,
1:02.9	an associate professor of ethnomysicology and chair of the music department at the University of
1:09.6	California, Riverside.
1:12.1	We discussed his viral Quechua song, titled Caromanta Ham or Hani, which means I have come
1:19.7	from Faraway.
1:22.1	He wrote this song in 2001, while conducting his fieldwork on a traditional testimonial Quechua music called
1:32.0	Pumpin, just in the aftermath of Peru's brutal civil war between the Maoist Chinempat
1:39.7	guerrilla group and the Peruvian security forces that devastated the country during the last two decades
1:46.9	of the 20th century. The conflict resulted in nearly 70,000 deaths, primarily affecting Quechua-speaking
1:56.2	indigenous peasants in the region of Ayacuchu, the epicenter of this conflict.
2:01.6	We discuss how Pumpin music evolves from traditional music and dance into a powerful form of testimony
	...

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