Composed by William Andrés Jajoy Juajibioy

Translated from Spanish by Juan G. Sanchez Martinez & Felipe Q. Quintanilla

Lovely little water that runs through my jungle
You give life to its roots
You, lovely little water, are life’s womb
Of all creation

And your siblings cry out for your protection
Sacred plants conjure your flow
Tapir and Bear pray for your life
Because humans do not appreciate your existence

Air and fire know of your power
Gold and copper know of your wealth
Only humans forget your generosity
Because their ambition made a pact with death

Lovely little water that runs through my jungle
You give life to its roots
You, lovely little water, are life’s womb
Of all creation

The espeletia shelters you with its leaves
Anaconda bathes in your lap
Dolphins dance in your gaze
Jaguar and condor praise your greatness

Air and fire know of your power
Gold and copper know of your wealth
Only humans forget your generosity
Because their ambition made a pact with death.

The Kindiyaku musical group, whose name means hummingbird’s water, alludes to the hummingbird that lives in the waters of the Kindicocha region, in the Sibundoy Valley, Colombia. The band was born in September 2023 in the Chaujpi Atun Llajta town, Colón municipality. We belong to the Inga and Kamentsa Indigenous communities, as well as the mixed-race (mestizo), strengthening our cross-culturality. We create music from the land, music that allows us to reflect and encourage actions that contribute to the care and healing of the territory, following ancestrally inherited principles of Sumak Kaugsay (good living in Inga) and Tsabe Juabna (good thinking in Kamentsa).

The Sibundoy Valley is located in southwestern Colombia, in the Putumayo region. The highlands surrounding the Sibundoy Valley are part of the Colombian Massif and the Andean-Amazonian piedmont where the tributaries of the Amazon River (Putumayo, Caquetá, and Guamuéz) originate. The Kindicocha area is part of this world’s water source; its rich ecosystem favors water regulation and the sustainability of a high biological, landscape, and cultural wealth that supports the great biodiversity of the Andean-Amazonian territory.

We believe that the transmission of ancestral knowledge through music is important to preserve a legacy of commitment and responsibility for the next generations. As artists from Kindicocha, we cannot forget the responsibility that was inherited by the Ancestral Chief Carlos Tamabioy, who fought for these territories in the 1700s and left the following words written in his will: “I leave these lands to my native Indians of the town of Santiago and those of the town of Sibundoy Grande, and it is my will that they enjoy and defend them if there would be a concern from any malicious person.”

Motivated by this responsibility, we exercise cultural resistance through music, seeking to heal the land, and understand this as the restoration of the well-being of its mountains, rivers, gardens, and the beings that inhabit it. Our brothers and sisters in Mocoa, Putumayo, are fighting to defend water against the Canadian corporation Libero Copper. This is why, in October 2023, we joined their fight by participating in the mobilization of the Juntanza process for water, life, and land. Within these experiences, the song “Agüita” (“Lovely Little Water”) was born, reflecting the thoughts and feelings of our grandparents, celebrating the value of water over the value of copper and gold, acknowledging that the tapir and the bear are the guardians of the mountain, and the Colombian massif is the heart of the most important tributaries of the Colombian Amazon.