Sunday Song - The Way You Make Me Feel

Why is this week's song a Michael Jackson song? Because this is a cover. The first rule of cover songs is that you have to bring something new to it. Quechua, the official language of the Incan empire, isn't new in its own right, but as far as I know no one has ever sung anything by Michael Jackson in Quechua. That is until 14 year old Renata Flores Rivera recorded this video:

Flores* recorded this for a project called "Las juventudes también hablamos Quechua" (We youth speak Quechua too). Quechua is one of Peru's two official languages, and it's the largest (in terms of current speakers) indigenous language in the Americas. But it's shrinking. Quechua isn't nearly as useful as Spanish. And since lanugage is a tool for communication, a lot of people - especially young people moving from the country to the city - are leaving Quechua behind for Spanish. Of course, people can be bilingual. I think that part of Rivera's point is that Quechua doesn't have to die off.

I would also be remiss if I didn't offer once correction on the fusion.net article about this video - Quechua is taught in some schools, because many of the 22 schools in the PERFAL** network offer a completely bilingual Spanish/Quechua education.

If you liked this, you might also enjoy her cover of House of the Rising Sun

*Flores is her paternal last name, Rivera is her maternal last name. When using only one of the last names, the paternal last name is used.

**Proyecto de Educación Rural, Fé y ALegría. I may have mentioned this before, but there is a network of 22 rural schools connected to FyA 44. They are located farther up into the mountains, where Spanish hasn't yet overcome Quechua as a major language.