“Gwandena” is one of the headiest moments from TIMPANA's new album, also called Gwandena. It's a sure shot of exhilaration, as Talina, the young girl at the heart of the album's narrative, gets swept up by a torrent of Afro-Andean-Amazonian rhythms. With instruments including the charango, the toyo (Andean flute), djembé and Afro-Bolivian percussion, and with lyrics that pass between Spanish and Quechua, it’s a song that reveals a lot about Bolivian culture. Far from the “Andean panpipe” image that is often conveyed, Bolivia is a multicultural society where African and Amazonian cultures are equally present, and where the natural world is never taken for granted.
TIMPANA is the project of Alejandra Lanza, a Bolivian singer, performer and actor. On Gwandena, her boldest release to date, she maps out a metaphysical journey across her home country, and through various states of being. Made with fellow Bolivian producer Chuntu and an array of Bolivia's finest string, percussion and wind players, it's set to finally put Bolivia on the contemporary music map.
lyrics
Canta Gwandena
Brota y alegra
Déjate llena
Madre que ensueña
Mamma Gwandena
Florece y vuela
Deja una huella
Llena y llena
Bebe Gwandena
Agua de estrellas
Piedra del Sol
Mujer del cielo
Canta Gwandena
Madre que ensueña
Déjate llena
Brota y alegra
Bebe Gwandena
Agua de estrellas
Piedra del Sol
Mujer del cielo soy
Hanaj Pacha (Cielo- del cielo)
Killa Ch’aska (Luna- Estrella)
Kay Pacha (mundo terrenal)
Killa Ch’aska (Luna-Estrella)
Soy Mamma Gwandena
Mujer del cielo soy
Soy Mamma Gwandena
credits
from Gwandena,
track released August 6, 2022
Ale Lanza: vocals, percussion and samplers
Chuntu: keyboards, synths and samplers
Luciel Izumi: charango
Cucó Pachá Kutí: toyos, quenas, quenachos and other wind instruments, and percussion
Amado Espinoza: djembé and seed shaker
Post Production by IntiChe
Mixed by Javier Hernández
Mastered by Emiliano Dubsalon
Lyrics by TIMPANA (Alejandra Lanza)
Music by Chuntu (Simón Peña) & TIMPANA (Alejandra Lanza)
Produced by Chuntu (Simón Peña) & TIMPANA (Alejandra Lanza)
TIMPANA creates her own sound based on native vocal techniques from Bolivia and the
world.
Since 2009 with her debut album Alma Perdida she has come with a world music influence that now with Gwandena she experiments even more with electronic elements and sounds, indigenous instruments, native songs in Spanish, Quechua and Guarani, with a strong Afro Andean Amazonian influence....more
Je me suis effondrée en larmes dès les premières notes de certaines chansons. Elle a perdu sa mère, j'ai perdu mon père. Album magnifique comme toute son œuvre! C'est son dernier album et j'espère qu'elle en créera d'autres! Lavinie Cloutier
I love these women. the voices mesh together perfectly; also the world music is exceptional. I have all of their albums and they're all excellent. Give them a listen. Steve Lake