loader from loading.io

Kuskalla#26: Karumanta Qamurqani w/ Jonathan Ritter [English]

The Red Nation Podcast

Release Date: 07/06/2025

Fourth of YOU STOLE OUR F****** LAND event w/ John Redhouse show art Fourth of YOU STOLE OUR F****** LAND event w/ John Redhouse

The Red Nation Podcast

The third and final livestream of the book tour celebrating the publication of Hosted by Red Power Hour co-host Melanie Yazzie at the Inspired Moments Event Center Farmington, New Mexico. Watch the  on The Red Nation Podcast YouTube channel "From the late summer of 1972 to the late summer of 1974, John Redhouse and many other Navajo and Indian rights activists threw all they had into mass movement organizing and direct action. And they were pretty good at it too in terms of effectiveness and impact. Written in the first-person and above all, with a collective spirit of generosity and...

info_outline
"ICE is a colonial police force" w/ Alex Aviña

The Red Nation Podcast

TRN Podcast host welcomes back comrade, colleague, and oft-returning guest of the show to discuss the Trump regime's widening attack on higher education and  how it is being waged through a class of neoliberal administrators largely identifying as Democrats. Alex is the author of Check out Video edition coming soon!   Empower our work: GoFundMe:   Subscribe to The Red Nation Newsletter: Patreon:    

info_outline
"The Red Power movement had been going since 1492" w/ John Redhouse and Carol Wright

The Red Nation Podcast

and are proud to announce our second co-publication! by legendary warrior John Redhouse is a one-of-a-kind lyrical and fast-paced memoir of the frontlines and trenches of Native liberation in the Four Corners and Southwest in the 1970s.  This episode is a recording of the celebrating the publication of the book. John and his wife Carol spoke with Red Power Host Melanie Yazzie about their lives and work. We will be publishing more episodes of these events in the coming weeks! Watch the on The Red Nation Podcast YouTube channel "From the late summer of 1972 to the late summer of 1974,...

info_outline
Warrior intellectualism w/ John Redhouse and Jennifer Denetdale show art Warrior intellectualism w/ John Redhouse and Jennifer Denetdale

The Red Nation Podcast

The John Redhouse book tour makes its way to Albuquerque where comrades from Red Nation, Dr. Jennifer Denetdale and Red Power Hour co-host Melanie Yazzie join author John Redhouse to discuss his new book,  Watch the  on The Red Nation Podcast YouTube channel "From the late summer of 1972 to the late summer of 1974, John Redhouse and many other Navajo and Indian rights activists threw all they had into mass movement organizing and direct action. And they were pretty good at it too in terms of effectiveness and impact. Written in the first-person and above all, with a collective...

info_outline
Kuskalla#26: Karumanta Qamurqani w/ Jonathan Ritter [English] show art Kuskalla#26: Karumanta Qamurqani w/ Jonathan Ritter [English]

The Red Nation Podcast

***Producer's note: This is a preview of the latest episode of Kuskalla, a trilingual (Quechua-Spanish-English) podcast produced by Red Media and hosted by our comrades Yojana Miraya Oscco and Renzo Aroni. Listen to the full episode on the In this episode, I talked with , who is the Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology and Chair of the Department of Music at the University of California, Riverside. We discussed his viral Quechua Pumpin song “” (I have come from far away).  Characterized by a carnivalesque style, Pumpin is often interpreted as testimonial music from the Fajardo...

info_outline
SLAPP’d: Green NGOs, Pipeline Mercenaries, and reporting on the Water Protector movement w/ Tristan Ahtone and Alleen Brown show art SLAPP’d: Green NGOs, Pipeline Mercenaries, and reporting on the Water Protector movement w/ Tristan Ahtone and Alleen Brown

The Red Nation Podcast

TRN Podcast host interviews Allen Brown ) from and Tristan Ahtone ) from Grist about their investigation into the legal war waged on the Standing Rock Water Protectors and their allies years after the end of the encampments.  Check out Tristan's article  Check out the on The Red Nation Podcast YouTube channel Empower our work: GoFundMe:   Subscribe to The Red Nation Newsletter: Patreon: Join us for our book launch and tour as we release Red Media's second publication! Find events and link to livestream here:

info_outline
No War on Iran! w/ Nina Farnia and Ali Alizadeh show art No War on Iran! w/ Nina Farnia and Ali Alizadeh

The Red Nation Podcast

**Note: This episode was recorded before the American aggression on Iranian nuclear facilities** TRN Podcast host is joined by guests Nina Farnia () and Ali Alizadeh () to discuss the Zionist aggression on Iran and the looming specter of the US joining the war. Watch the on The Red Nation Podcast YouTube channel Check out Nina's recent article, Follow Ali on   Empower our work: GoFundMe:   Subscribe to The Red Nation Newsletter: Patreon: Join us for our book launch and tour as we release Red Media's second publication! Find events and link to livestream here:

info_outline
RPH vs. Sinners (2025) show art RPH vs. Sinners (2025)

The Red Nation Podcast

Red Power Hour is back! RPH co-hosts Melanie Yazzie and Elena discuss Ryan Coogler's new horror film, Sinners (2025) Watch the on The Red Nation YouTube ! Empower our work: GoFundMe:   Subscribe to The Red Nation Newsletter: Patreon: Join us for our book launch and tour as we release Red Media's second publication! Find events and link to livestream here:

info_outline
Red Power Hour - The banality of colonial evil show art Red Power Hour - The banality of colonial evil

The Red Nation Podcast

Red Power Hour is back! Co-hosts Melanie Yazzie and Elena survey the burning tirefire of US imperial decline and ask the perennial question, what is even left to say? Video edition coming soon! Empower our work: GoFundMe:   Subscribe to The Red Nation Newsletter: Patreon

info_outline
Anti-Imperialism and Indigenous methodologies w/ Sardana Nikolaeva and Masha Kardashevskaya show art Anti-Imperialism and Indigenous methodologies w/ Sardana Nikolaeva and Masha Kardashevskaya

The Red Nation Podcast

TRN Podcast host is joined by Sardana Nikolaeva and Masha Kardashevskaya, two researchers from the Sakha Republic and hosts of Red Media's newest media project, . Make sure to check out Sardana's earlier episodes of the show! Watch the  on The Red Nation Podcast YouTube channel Empower our work: GoFundMe:   Subscribe to The Red Nation Newsletter: Patreon:  

info_outline
 
More Episodes

***Producer's note: This is a preview of the latest episode of Kuskalla, a trilingual (Quechua-Spanish-English) podcast produced by Red Media and hosted by our comrades Yojana Miraya Oscco and Renzo Aroni. Listen to the full episode on the Kuskalla podcast feed***

In this episode, I talked with Jonathan Ritter, who is the Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology and Chair of the Department of Music at the University of California, Riverside. We discussed his viral Quechua Pumpin song “Karumanta Qamurqani” (I have come from far away).  Characterized by a carnivalesque style, Pumpin is often interpreted as testimonial music from the Fajardo province in Ayacucho, a central region deeply impacted by the Peruvian internal armed conflict between the Maoist Shining Path guerrillas and Peruvian state security forces, lasting from 1980 to 2000. This conflict resulted in nearly 70,000 deaths, primarily affecting Quechua-speaking Indigenous peasants in this region, as noted in the 2003 report of Peru’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

In 2001, shortly after the conflict ended, the Truth Commission began its efforts in communities throughout the Pampas River valley in central Ayacucho, where the Pumpin enjoys popularity. A year earlier, Jonathan Ritter started his fieldwork in the village of Colca for his dissertation focused on this music. After mastering the Pumpin guitar, he composed his song “Karumanta Qamurqani” to perform at the newly relaunched Pumpin contest held on the Waswantu plateau in February 2001. This contest had been on hold since 1983 when government security forces shut it down, targeting locals for allegedly supporting the Shining Path guerrillas. In February 2002, he performed his song again, and Asto Producciones filmed it for the first time on video cassette.

In this episode, we talk about how Pumpin transforms from traditional music into a powerful form of testimony that recounts wartime experiences and survival in the aftermath. We then examine the lyrics of “Karumanta Qamurqani,” discussing their meanings and the song’s reception both during the live performance in Waswantu and after its 2008 upload to YouTube. The response from Peruvians sheds light on issues of race, class, and identity, as well as the reclamation of Quechua language and culture in the post-war context. 

This episode is dedicated to Alejandro Mendonza Alca from Colca, Jonathan Ritter’s mentor and maestro of Pumpin, who sadly passed away a few years ago.

For more information on Pumpin music and its history, check out Jonathan Ritter’s articles, including “Carnival of Memory: Songs of Protest and Remembrance in the Andes,” published by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings in 2013.

Thank you for tuning in to the Kuskalla Podcast. 

If you enjoy this podcast, you can support it by sharing it, hitting subscribe, or leaving a review. Our podcast is produced by Red Media and Red Nation; please consider supporting our work if you don't already on Patreon: www.patreon.com/redmediapr

Follow us on social media: @KuskallaPodcast on Twitter; @KuskallaPodcast on IG

Kuskalla Abya Yala https://kuskallaabyayala.weebly.com/