Can we imagine a future that does not need to abandon our roots in order to exist? This question runs through the work of TIMPANA (Alejandra Lanza), a Bolivian artist working across music, performance, and the exploration of the voice. Her work emerges from a process of listening again, recovering and recognising ancient memory, understanding the act of remembering as a way of recognising oneself and, at the same time, of imagining the future. She asks how these roots can enter into dialogue with the present and open a space towards what does not yet exist.
In her music, the sonic memories of Bolivia and other territories meet Indigenous languages such as Quechua and Guaraní, Afro-Andean-Amazonian rhythms, myth, ritual, and electronic music, as in her latest album, Gwandena.
Her discography includes Alma Perdida (2011) and Gwandena (2022), the latter released by the UK-based label Sounds & Colours. She also directed the documentary Viaje al Mar Verde and has collaborated with artists from Mexico, Morocco, Chile, Argentina, Italy, and Tunisia, as well as with international projects and labels Turntables on the Hudson. Her work has taken her across Europe, South America, Central America, the Caribbean, and Mexico. She currently lives and works in Mexico, where she continues to develop her musical and acting practice and is involved in the creation of the label Primavera Anónima, through which she will release her forthcoming work.
Instagram: @TIMPANAmusic
Image: Portrait of TIMPANA. Photography by Alejandra Lanza Lobo.
