Luzmila Carpio

Luzmila Carpio is a Bolivian singer from Potosí, born in 1954, associated with Quechua and Aymara indigenous musical traditions. She learns the daily songs of the Quechua and Aymara peoples of northern Potosí as a child, along with the meanings she finds in natural sounds such as wind, birds, river water and echoes in the cliffs, and in the use of music within rituals and festivals. This early experience shapes her view of music as connected to human wellbeing and to Mother Earth.

Early life and musical formation

After moving to Oruro in her early teens, she begins singing in public. At one point she goes to a radio station and sings the Bolivian national anthem because she does not know songs in Castilian. She is later chosen as lead singer for a band taking part in a contest in Cochabamba. The popular songs she performs there are aimed at urban audiences descended from indigenous peoples who speak Castilian.

Songwriting and language

Carpio later composes Siway Azucena, a song inspired by the music of northern Potosí. The song becomes widely known across Bolivia and is regarded as significant for bringing an indigenous song into the wider popular sphere. Over time, she moves from singing in Castilian to singing increasingly in Quechua, which she uses as part of a broader cultural and political statement in favour of indigenous traditions and against the dominance of western models of progress.

Children's songs and spiritual work

She writes and co-writes several songs for children, including Ima sarata munanki (“What kind of corn do you want”) and Aylluman kutiripuna (“Let us return to the community”). These songs are sung by children in rural schools. Her later work in Paris continues this progression, moving from popular Castilian songs to Quechua songs and then to sacred songs presented as having universal quality, with an emphasis on peace between people and between humanity and nature.

Public role

On 21 April 2006, Evo Morales appoints Carpio as Bolivia’s ambassador to France.