Eck Echo releases “Radio Amazonía”, a charity compilation in support of a distance learning programme for children in Amazonia
The most Peruvian of Berlin’s labels, Eck Echo, will release its new compilation this Wednesday: Radio Amazonía. Selected by producer QOQEQA, the compilation spearheads a more global charity project initiated by the Vicariato Apostólico de Iquitos with the support of the Regional Directorate of Education in Loreto (DREL). The aim of the project? To make distance education more accessible to children in the Peruvian region of Loreto (1M inhabitants), which is covered by the Amazon forest and where the rural population is more than 30%.
Rural population” and “Amazonia” mean that many children have to attend school at a distance. Unfortunately, with the internet being only available in the two main cities of the region (Iquitos and Yurimaguas) and telecommunications often unstable or non-existent, only 52% of the population can access the government-funded distance education programs: “Aprendo en Casa” (Ministry of Education) and “Al son del Manguaré” (Regional Directorate of Education of Loreto – DREL). All this obviously got worst since the pandemic.
Radio Amazonía’s ambition is therefore to fill this gap by providing no less than 2,000 eco-friendly radio receivers to the inhabitants impacted, training 200 teachers, and developing the radio program “La Voz de la Selva”, which also provides distance learning.
The Radio Amazonía project is financed by a GoFundMe campaign and by the sale of the compilation on Bandcamp. Before the release of the compilation this Wednesday and on the occasion of this article, Eck Echo entrusted us with the participation of Mexican producer Alfonso Luna. Alfonso Luna’s music was a real slap in the face from the very first time we heard of him, at Lao’s Boiler Room in 2015. On ‘Otomi’, the Monterrey producer delivers his unique take on tribal prehispánico, the sub-genre of Mexican tribal that consists solely of organic samples, unlike tribal guarachero. If Monterrey seems to be the land of tribal prehispánico (and guarachero), giving birth to its greatest ambassadors which are Javier Estrada (who signed the music for Rihanna’s latest Fenty campaign) and Alfonso Luna there might be some things happening in Mexico City (Ozomatecuhtli).
Tracklist of the compilation:
01 Orieta Chrem – Espiral
02 QOQEQA – Yuvia
03 Carla Valenti – Canto y Tierras
04 Merci & Marco – 1
05 Pawkarmayta – Amaru
06 Alfonso Luna – Otomi
07 Mikongo – Pregones
08 Selvagia feat. Woo & The Clouds – Sami
09 Lara Nuh – La Viseral
10 Tribilin Sound – Condorcanqui
11 Vitu Valera – Afrobreath
12 Zavaleta – Danza de Los Venados
Pre-order the Radio Amazonía compilation on Bandcamp, and visit the GoFundMe campaign page for more information and to donate.
