7 Mexican indigenous radio stations that you can listen to online

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We recommend radio stations made in indigenous villages that you can listen to in AM, FM and from your computer.

February 13 is World Radio Day, one of the most powerful media and now is reinforced with the massiveness that gives the Internet. There is much talk of commercial radio stations, journalists on the news, drivers who present the songs of the moment (or of yesteryear) and the announcers who are all rockstars, but almost never the radios that strengthen the identity of indigenous peoples.

In Mexico there is a government program called Ecos Indígenas, which brings together the work of 21 stations that make up the Indigenous Cultural Radio Broadcasting System. These transmit in Modulated Amplitude (AM) and Modulated Frequency (FM) and are located in the main indigenous regions of Mexico. But very important is that they can also be heard online, so they have national and international reach.

What distinguishes these radio stations from indigenous peoples is that they deal with their localities, they play music in different languages ​​of Mexico and, the best thing is, the speakers of almost all speak their native language.

Through these stations, the people identify with the radio, they feel it is theirs because they listen to messages in their own language thanks to the bilingual staff.

So you can hear a little how these radios sound, we tell you about 7 of them.

1. Radio XEJM, The voice of the four peoples

This station transmits from the Sierra de Nayarit, also known as Sierra Alica or Sierra de Tepic. In this region Coras, Huichols, Tepehuanos and Mexicaneros cohabit, so the main challenge of the radio station is to create contents in which the identities and cultural expressions of the four indigenous regions that coexist in the area are combined and fed back.

Its programming includes music in different indigenous languages ​​as well as local and national news. The announcers also speak in Spanish.

You can listen to it here http://www.inpi.gob.mx/ecosgobmx/xejmn.php

2. XEPET, The voice of the Mayans

From Peto, Yucatan, a prehispanic town whose name means “crown of the moon”, the La Voz de los Mayas station began broadcasting on November 29, 1982. It was created to support the Mexican government’s programs of Castilianization, derived from the politics of integration of indigenous peoples to national development.

If you give it play, you can hear how the maya sounds, because the idea of ​​its existence is the strengthening of the use of the language, with the aim of impacting the young and student population in the process of strengthening their cultural identity.

Listen to it here: http://www.inpi.gob.mx/ecosgobmx/xepet.php

3. XEOJN, La voz de la Chinantla

In the northern region of the state of Oaxaca, known as the Chinantla, which is distinguished by its mountainous ups and downs is the signal of the XEOJN, which reaches Chinantecos, Mazatecos, Cuicatecos, Zapotecs, Mixes and Mixtecs and speaks to them in their language as well as also in Spanish. There are programs for everyone.

La Voz de la Chinantla began its transmission on November 18, 1991, although its formal opening was made on December 14 of the same year. Through its programming, the pluricultural character of the people is strengthened, their cultures and traditions are discussed, as well as providing services and education on topics related to health, education, indigenous peoples, human rights, children, women, migration and the countryside.

You can listen to it here: http://www.inpi.gob.mx/ecosgobmx/xeojn.php

4. XETAR, The voice of the Sierra Tarahumara

In the Sierra de Guachochi, Chihuahua, the XETAR, La Voz de la Sierra Tarahumara, began broadcasting on November 11, 1982, and since then it has been a space for strengthening the different multicultural expressions of this region.

Day by day, through 870 AM, listeners who live in the municipalities and neighboring states of Durango, Sonora and Sinaloa, can hear announcements and greetings in their languages.

Its programmatic bar seeks to maintain respect for regional diversity and thereby transmit content that meets the needs of information, education, strengthening and dissemination of the different traditions of the Rarámuri , Odami , Guarijío, Pima and Mestizo peoples .

Listen to it here: http://www.inpi.gob.mx/ecosgobmx/xetar.php

5. XEZON, The voice of the Sierra de Zongolica

In the Eastern Sierra of the state of Veracruz you can see large hills, a region called Sierra Zongolica, a wet and cold place due to constant rain, in which the sun rarely peeks and, jokingly, it is said that dawns at eleven o’clock and sunset at four.

In the 1990s, this station began with the purpose of reaching more indigenous groups and communities, especially those suffering from high marginalization and lack of infrastructure. On November 20, 1991, the first transmission was carried out by the XEZON, with the purpose of strengthening the Nahua language, the most spoken language in the region.

An important point of this station is that it has become a means for the people of Veracruz to communicate with their relatives in the United States through the community notices of the XEZON. And of course, those who migrated can still be in contact with their cultures of origin.

You can listen to it here: http://www.inpi.gob.mx/ecosgobmx/xezon.php

6. XEVFS, The voice of the southern border

This station is alive since April 27, 1987, it is known among the tojol-ab’alauditorium as the X uxepil (the mother of the real word) and has been the most efficient means of communication addressed to indigenous and peasant localities region of. Its programming has bilingual news programs, as well as the dissemination of indigenous music.

In 1994, La Voz de la Frontera Sur witnessed the uprising of the Zapatista movement. In response to this conflict, the station played an important role as an informant of the process of social mobilizations and negotiations to resolve the demands of the indigenous peoples, a function that continues to be fulfilled.

You can listen to programs in Spanish and in leagues for the Tseltal community (which make up the ethnic majority of Chiapas and 34% of the current indigenous population), Tsotsil, Mam and Popti, among others, who belong to the Mayan ethnolinguistic family. .

On YouTube they have a documentary series about the radio station, it’s called “Al aire” and below you can see one of the episodes.

You can listen to it here: http://www.inpi.gob.mx/ecosgobmx/xevfs.php

7. XEQIN, The voice of the valley

Located in the agricultural valley of San Quintin, Baja California, the XEQIN, La Voz del Valle, was the first station of the Indigenous Cultural Radio Broadcasting System (SRCI) installed to respond to an increasingly growing reality among the indigenous population: migration and its effects on the culture of the original peoples of Mexico.

The XEQIN broadcasts in Mixteco, Triqui and Zapoteco. It serves an audience of around 100 thousand inhabitants in the south and northeast of the municipality of Ensenada, Baja California, of which 40 thousand are indigenous people, mostly born in the states of Oaxaca and Guerrero.

You can listen to it here: http://www.inpi.gob.mx/ecosgobmx/xeqin.php

Source: mexico.com

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