MEXICO CITY -- Backstage at a celebration of Indigenous peoples in Mexico City's sprawling central square, Carlos CGH traced his fingers across a black and red “gabán,” which is similar to a poncho. The garment, native to the Triqui people in western Oaxaca, is a source of pride for the 24-year-old rapper and reserved for special occasions. Its textured surface was decorated with intricate needlepoint patterns of multicolored corn husks.
As the rapper — whose full name is Carlos Guadalupe Hernández — prepared for his performance, Oaxacan muralist Alberto Sebastián Bautista Figueroa brainstormed details. He crafted a drawing with the word “RAICES,” or “ROOTS,” in twisting strokes, for a mural he planned to create during the performance. “We’re always proud,” Guadalupe later said on stage, wearing the gabán.
“This goes out to all craftspeople who are here, people don’t know all the history and all the resistance behind one garment.” Such details are an important part of his identity as a musician, representing his origins as a descendant of the Triqui nation. His verses are reflective of his culture, and he aims to conserve his native tongue, Triqui, through contemporary rap.
Triqui is one of many Mixtec languages spoken in Oaxaca and has four variants. One variant, Xnánj nu' a, is particular to Guadalupe's hometown of San Juan Copala. “To my Triqui brothers – farmworkers, students, doctors and all the women,” Guadalupe rapped in Span.