This special episode of Beat of the Boroughs: NYC Online presents the band Inkarayku, a Quechua word that means “because of the Incas.” Led by founder Andres Jiménez, the group seeks to link the past, present and future of Andean arts through the performance of indigenous musical forms that have evolved into the contemporary mestizo music heard today. Inkarayku’s sound blends the organic power of Quechua folk songs with the energy and edge unique to our City that never sleeps. The band’s diverse line-up brings together a river of musical and artistic experience resulting in Andean folk music that transcends cultural boundaries and seamlessly shares the stage with other folk traditions of the Americas. INKARAYKU| is in many ways a sonic bridge between the contemporary performance of Andean folk music in NYC and the musical lineage from which this scene draws its identity. This is a musical lineage with its roots in the remote villages of the Andes mountain chain, but a history specific to NYC immigrant life. The band plays traditional Andean music and Quechua folk songs from several different Andean regions that make up present day Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador and remain popular in the diaspora communities of Queens, Brooklyn, NJ, Westchester, Long Island, and the Bronx. The instrumental lineup includes a variety of winds, hand percussion, drums. vocals, charango, mandolina, guitar, bass, and keyboards.