ABOUT THE PROJECT

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Background

Bolivia has been one of the focus countries for our international work. Several times, we've conducted projects strengthening the Bolivian Hip Hop scene and the many marginalized adolescents and youths living in Bolivia. We support Hip Hop as a tool of cultural resistance and political reflection and have therefore been engaged in the city of El Alto, Bolivia, where rap music tends to be a tool of powerful expressions of social indignation leading to greater political awareness between the indigenous youths.

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Summer of 2009

The project took its beginning in 2009 in collaboration with the Bolivian rap group Wayna Rap and the Hip Hop organization Khana Aru Imanthata (KAI). We invited Wayna Rap to come to Denmark and participate in RAPOLITICS Play and tour both Denmark and Finland. In Denmark, Wayna Rap travelled with GAM3 and performed for more than 1.000 youths in marginalized neighbourhoods. Afterwards, the trip went forward to Finland, where they performed at Kunningssoundi Club and the TV show 'SUMMER'. During their stay, Wayna Rap conducted workshops for youths from Amager and Nørrebro and recorded the song "One" with Danish artists Zaki and Vakili and "La Union de la Revolución" with Ren Reflex and Ali Sufi.

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Later on, Zaki and Vakili headed for a three-week stay in Bolivia, where they performed, participated in workshops and recorded tracks. The rappers' common message of 'Raptivismo' reached nearly 3.000 youths mainly in the cities of El Alto and La Paz, and Zaki and Vakili were interviewed by national and local medias and appeared in three different live shows on Bolivian television.

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January 2011 - July 2012

In 2011 we continued our work for indigenous youths in the cities of El Alto and La Paz in further collaboration with Wayna Rap, KAI and UNICEF. This time, the project reached out to over 7.000 marginalized Aymara and Quechua youths with:

• More than 100 workshops in schools, prisons and streets
• Two intensive Playground courses
• Hip Hop festivals and street performances
• The release of three CDs with raptivist songs
• Visits by Danish rappers
• Training of Bolivian Rapolitics-coaches.

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October 2015

In 2015 we travelled back to Bolivia to work with KAI on a final project aiming to establishing a 'Hip Hop Home' - a center for Hip Hop and youth empowerment in El Alto. The purpose of the trip was to design a sustainable plan for how this Hip Hop Home would be operated after the project period.