Manuel Vilas & Ars Atlántica - Yaya Kuntur (2024)

Under the title YAYA KUNTUR (Father Condor, in Quechua), the harpist Manuel Vilas and the Ars Atlántica group have just published on the Lindoro label a disc focused especially on the study of the Catholic hymn in Quechua, of which they intend to offer a panoramic view through its history from its beginnings in the 16th century to the 20th century, offering examples such as Te Deum and the famous Hanaqpachap Kusikuynin, among others.

The Quechua language, the great protagonist of this recording, was one of the objectives of linguistic study and translation in Hispanic South America from the mid-16th to the mid-17th century. The Latin language is also important, which was present in Peru from the beginning of evangelization. The disc offers several examples of hymns in Latin, from a hymnal of the cathedral of La Plata (Sucre).

This look at ancient Peruvian music stems from Manuel Vilas's fascination –creator and director of the project– with the study of ancient sources: texts of very diverse nature (chronicles, catechisms, grammars, poems), images (paintings, sculptures, drawings, engravings) and, of course, scores.

An expert in Peruvian viceregal harp, Vilas uses for this album a harp made by Javier Reyes de León, who recreates the one represented in one of the frescoes of the church of the Apostle Santiago de Huachacalla (Bolivia), also studying for its recreation the harp found in the Convent of Santa Monica, in the city of Potosí.

Diego Blázquez and Magali Revollar contribute two different vocal worlds, with Blázquez representing the Creole or Spanish voice, while Revollar, a native of Ayacucho (one of the centers of the Catholic hymn in Quechua), embodies the Indian song.