From K-pop to Q’pop: the Peruvian who adapted the global phenomenon of Korean pop into Quechua

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Lenin Tamayo is successful on TikTok by mixing Andean culture with South Korean genre. The idea is to merge what he proudly calls ‘origins’. Lenin Tamayo, a Peruvian artist who follows the musical movement called K-pop but fuses it with the Quechua language to call it Q-pop, poses on the roof of his house in Lima Ernesto Benavides/AFP Lenin Tamayo looks, sounds and moves like a K-pop singer, but is really into Q’pop, an adaptation of the Korean musical phenomenon into the indigenous language of the Andes of Peru mixed with Spanish. At the age of 23, the artist is successful on TikTok, combining a taste for the glamorous K-pop industry with pop sung in Quechua, a language spoken by 14% of the 33 million Peruvians. The idea is to merge what he proudly calls “origins”. Lenin records his songs in a modest and improvised studio measuring 20 square meters, inside the roof of a house in the populous neighborhood of Comas, north of Lima. “I thought about transferring my Andean roots to music, mixing Andean with global trends like K-pop. Q’pop allows me to validate my existence, I can say where I come from. It’s a very strong and disruptive concept”, said Lenin in an interview with AFP. Lenin Tamayo, a Peruvian artist who follows the musical movement called K-pop but merges it with the Quechua language to call it Q-pop, performs on a street in downtown Lima on June 5, 2023 Ernesto Benavides/ AFP For him, Quechua pop is a protest against the reductionist idea of ​​the Andean world. Quechua, or Quechua, is also alive in some regions of Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Chile and Ecuador. The artist composes all the lyrics, in which he talks about his lands, love and freedom, defying language barriers. “Don’t you understand or don’t you want to understand? / I’m speaking in Spanish, Quechua or English. It doesn’t matter the language, right or wrong / You know I’m not lying / I say what I feel”, sings Lenin in “Imaynata” , his most famous work. At the end of 2022, he began to be a phenomenon on the streets and on Tik-Tok, where he now has almost 198,000 followers. His videos total 4.2 million likes. On Instagram, YouTube and Facebook, he has more than 85.3 thousand followers. On Spotify, it reaches a monthly audience of 3,800 listeners. Renewing Quechua Lenin Tamayo, a Peruvian artist who follows the musical movement called K-pop but merges it with the Quechua language to call it Q-pop, performs on a street in downtown Lima on June 5, 2023 Ernesto Benavides/AFP The pioneer of Quechua pop in Peru wears straight hair parted in the middle, in the same style as the members of BTS, the first K-pop group to achieve success in the United States and the United Kingdom. One weekend, in the late afternoon, Lenin performs for some fans of K-pop culture. Along with jeans, a pair of sneakers and a sleeveless black shirt, he wears a poncho and a thick belt with multicolored engravings of the Andean world, while maintaining the air of a Korean pop figure. A K-pop fan poses before a concert by Peruvian singer Lenin Tamayo, in downtown Lima Ernesto Benavides/AFP “You’re the best singer I’ve ever heard!” says a teenager, whom Lenin hugs amid a thank you. “It’s hard to find modern songs in Quechua because almost nobody does it, so I like [de Lenin] because he’s different”, says Tiara Yoshioka, a regular spectator of the Peruvian’s street performances. Moving consciences Lenin Tamayo, a Peruvian artist who follows the musical movement called K-pop, but merges it with the Quechua language to call it Q -pop, poses on the roof of his house in Lima Ernesto Benavides/AFP Born in Lima, Lenin Tamayo learned Quechua at home from his mother, Yolanda Pinares, an Andean popular music singer born in Cusco, the former capital of the Inca Empire. He was bullied at school, but has found a “welcoming community” in K-pop. Today he wants his music to offer youth “hope that they can maintain their identity and embrace world trends.” K-pop?” Lenin questions, adding that the Quechua language can also be a “tool to move consciences due to its sound and cultural potential”. The language is reaching young people through foreign musical genres such as pop, rap, reggaeton or trap , says music critic Oscar García. For him, this is due to the fact that “young people from the interior of the country do not perceive folklore as their music”. “They respect and listen where their parents are, but they get much more involved with so-called urban music, where they feel entitled to sing [em quíchua] what they like”, adds García. READ MORE: BTS turns 10 and fans celebrate in South Korea Pop Week explains why K-Pop stars are leaving the stage for military service

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