“Gwandena” (Sounds and Colours) is the title track from Timpana’s forthcoming new album. Timpana is the project of Alejandra Lanza, a Bolivian singer, performer and actor that combines African, Andean, Spanish and Amazonian influences.
The album Gwandena tells the story of Talina, a young girl who is taken on a journey of self-knowledge (autoconocimiento) accompanied by a colibrí (hummingbird). The world she discovers is one in which nature is as important, if not more important, than any person, and where nothing is quite what it seems, with Talina herself undergoing a constant metamorphosis. This is definitely the case when she meets her great-grandmother Gwandena and discovers that she and her ancestors are one and the same.
“Gwandena”, the song, is a highlight of the album, swept up by music from across the Bolivian melting pot. With instruments including the charango, the toyo (Andean flute), jembe and Afro-Bolivian percussion, and with lyrics in Spanish and Quechua, it’s a song that reveals a lot about Bolivian culture far from the “Andean panpipe” stereotype that is often conveyed.
TIimpana is one of a number of Bolivian artists intent on showing that the country has a lot to offer, injecting folktronica and tropical bass with her own stamp.
Author: World Music Central News Room
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