In Ecuador, Indigenous youth turn to rap music to defend the Amazon

A new wave of Indigenous rappers across Ecuador's Amazon, including Willan Gualinga, known as Taki Supay, and Misael Elías Criollo Grefa, known as Misa17, are using music in Kichwa and A'ingae languages to highlight threats facing their territories from mining and oil extraction. Misa17's track Ingi Tsampi has drawn over 9,000 YouTube views and 400,000 on TikTok within a month of release.

According to mapping data from MapBiomas and the EcoCiencia Foundation, 71% of mining in Ecuador sits in the Amazon region, with nearly half inside Indigenous territories, while oil concessions cover 63% of land belonging to Amazonian Indigenous peoples. Misa17, from the A'i Cofán community of Dureno, raps in honor of his uncle Eduardo Mendúa, a land defender murdered in February 2023.

The artists face practical obstacles, including a lack of recording studios and high video production costs, as well as the risk of retaliation for publicly opposing extractive industries. A music journalist, Carla Vera, said rap's directness and history of protest make it a natural fit for Indigenous resistance movements.

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