Peru: Traditional Music Takes on Internet Love · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

Huayno Peruano by Otra Vez me Hice Mujer
While internet romance has lost its shock value to many online veterans,  certain segments of the population who have so far remained outside of the online revolution are just catching up with these changes and are exploring the pros and cons of cyber-romance. Here we bring you three music videos for songs by Peruvian folklore singers who provide us their Andean perspective on these new ways of finding and bonding with romantic partners.
Amazilia Alba from  Bottle to the Sea [es] blog brought these videos to our attention on her post Cybernetic Love [es]. In this post she provides us with cultural background to this phenomenon. Facing an agricultural crisis, many youth migrate to bigger cities in search of work and opportunities. This, added to the growth of Internet Cafes in many cities, brings different indigenous geographical communities in contact and is bridging the isolation rural communities were once in. She sums it up by stating that these songs reflect how the Andean population is conscious of the advantages and disadvantages of  “love on the internet”.
The first song she selects is the huaylarsh, a type of huayño [en](a traditional and popular widespread dance of the Andean regions) titled Internet Love:
Gracias a un comentarista en UTdeM tenemos este huaylarsh de Estrellita de Huayllar (Edith Mayta) de Huayllar, Angaraes, Huancavelica. Con una visión positiva y lúdica sobre las posibilidades del coqueteo por internet.
The lyrics basically say:
Hola como estas amiguito mío quiero que me des tu correo de internet. Vamos amigo carita bonita quiero conocerte ya mucho mejor.
Mira que me siento muy enamorada tan solamente amor de internet. Creo que me siento ya muy enamorada dame tu cariñito por internet
See that I feel very in love, only through internet love. I think I am very much in love, give me your affection through internet.
The next video is what Amazilia calls the Summer Hit, and she selects one of the many different versions of it, which she considers is the better one due to the good dancing in it. From the highlands of Cuzco, Mariposita de Espinar (Vilma Chavez) and the Carnavaleros of the South bring us Cybernetic Love, a far more jaded view of love in the times of Internet:
The lyrics go:
¿Por qué quieres saber mi número telefónico? ¿Para qué quieres saber mi correo electrónico? Seguro quieres jugar, conmigo vas a perder. Por celular no podrás, por internet tampoco.
Then the voice-over guy insists that he wants the number to meet-up and the email to chat and stay in touch, to which the girls in the chorus reply: Cyberlove? With me, never! Go away stuck up cholito.
This next video is a strange concoction: after a long presentation enumerating the multiple characteristics of the singer, the songwriter and the band, and among greetings to family members, greetings to the audience and to places all around Perú, The Sweet Party Girl of Espinar and the Rays of Love sing Jhony Milagros’ song “Internet Love”, where the possibility of online romance is rejected because anyone who truly loved her would look for her until she was physically found:
Yo no quisiera enamorarme de un amor por internet. Son ilusiones, fantasías, caprichos: sólo me harán llorar.
Estoy buscando un amorcito que me quiera igual que yo. Si tú me quieres con toda el alma te amaría hasta la muerte.
Si tú quieres conquistarme no lograrás por internet. Si de verdad tu me amarías me buscarías hasta encontrarme.
I am looking for a lover who loves me as I love him. If you love me with all your soul, I will love you until death.
If you want to conquer me you won't be able to on internet. If you really love me you would look for me until you found me.
Internet romance is not the only modern subject songs are focusing on. Amazilia has also written another post where she shared two other videos, this time both are in Quechua, about cell-phones in the Andean Culture.