Urkumanda is a band led by Ati Cachimuel, Kichwa musician from Otavalo. This project was born with the purpose of investigating and reinterpreting the traditional music of the Andes. The constant search to reflect a current sound of the Andean, has led this band to experiment with different formats of instrumentation, as well as to summon members of different musical tendencies and different ethnicities of Ecuador. In this way, Urkumanda represents an ancient culture that transcends and adapts over time, using music as a tool for social transformation.
Piñan Urku de Urkumanda is a traditional rhythm called Yumbo. The Yumbo is a dance native to the Amazon rainforest of Ecuador that was performed in hunting and fishing activities for the subsistence of the Amazonian communities. With the commercial relationship that formerly existed between the inhabitants of the jungle and the Andean highlands, the Yumbo reached the Kichwa communities of Ecuador, adapting and taking on new peculiarities in the interpretation, instrumentation and ritual character. Piñan Urku is a Yumbo from the province of Imbabura.