Hello listeners. For this special season of the Duolingo Spanish podcast, we are revisiting

some of our favorite stories from indigenous communities across Latin America.

Today, we'll hear an episode from July 2020. It takes us to Mexico to meet Alfredo Diaz Navabor, who discovered he could use rap music to help save his native language.

Keep listening to hear his story and stay tuned at the end for an update from Alfredo.

Now, on to the episode.

One afternoon in 2015, Alfredo Diaz Nabor took the stage, dressed in baggy pants, hat, and sneakers.

It's somewhat typical of a Mexican hip-hop artist.

But one thing he was wearing wasn't typical.

His shirt.

It was embroidered with floral native designs

as a tribute to Mexican artists with indigenous roots, like him.

I was nervous because

not going to rapeer in Spanish,

the language predominant in Mexico,

but in Kuicateco,

my idioma materno.

Acasto my decision

to rapeer in that

idioma

would to offend to the public?

Only 13,000 people speak Quicateco, one of Mexico's native languages. The name of the region where they speak it is Quicatlan, which means land of singers.

There might have been singers in Quicatlan in the past, but as far as Alfredo knew, he was the first rapper.

...