Brazilian hip-hop artist Brisa Flow brings Indigenous issues to the fore

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Brazilian rapper Brisa Flow made history as the first Indigenous artist on the lineup of Lollapalooza Brazil in 2023.

But she said that her success has come at a price.

“Being a pioneer brings wounds; there’s no way you can have a machete opening a path and not get some branches on your face,” she said, adding, “I got many, and I believe I learned a lot.”

Her music mixes hip-hop with ancestral singing, jazz, electronic and neo-soul. She’s also an activist and educator. Many of her songs are influenced by her own background — and the struggle of Indigenous people in Brazil, where less than 1% of the population is Indigenous.

Flow said that she and her partner experience a lot of racism on the street. It’s one reason that her Indigenous identity figures so prominently in her work — both as a way to channel her feelings and to educate people.

Flow’s latest album, “Janequeo,” is about a tough Indigenous woman.

Brisa Flow and her partner Ian Wapichana have a daughter together. Gisele Regatão/The World

“Janequeo was a female Mapuche warrior who had to negotiate several deals in the war to liberate her people,” she said. “I bring that to the contemporary, which is the reality of Indigenous brown women, mothers and independent artists in Brazil.”

“Brisa Flow is one of the biggest artists in Brazil,” said Bruno Barros, an independent culture producer who writes about music.

Even though Flow’s Indigenous roots are key to her work and identity, he said, she achieved her place in music not because of her race.

“She is an artist who happens to be Indigenous and delivered one of the great albums of 2022,” he said.

Brisa Flow, born Brisa de la Cordillera Collio Inzunza, is 37 years old. Gisele Regatão/The World

The 37-year-old Flow, whose birth name is Brisa de la Cordillera Collio Inzunza, was born in Sabará, on the outskirts of Belo Horizonte, the capital of the state of Minas Gerais. Her parents are Indigenous artisans from Chile who moved to Brazil during Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship.

Flow said she got into hip-hop as a teenager and started to participate in rhyme battles when she was around 17 years old, often as the only female.

“I got into hip-hop especially because of its body movement, that idea of being at ease, being who you are,” she said.

It took her a long time to build a career as an artist. She lived in different cities in Brazil and worked odd jobs in telemarketing, and at a T-shirt factory before she moved to São Paulo. She said her song, “Fique Viva,” or “stay alive”, talks a bit about that journey.

Brisa Flow’s partner Ian Wapichana and their merged family of three kids. Gisele Regatão/The World

“I had to learn to love myself and stand on my own two feet,” she said, paraphrasing the beginning of the song. “The opening is like, ‘boom, this girl has been through a lot, let’s see what she has to tell me.’”

She was influenced by a range of female artists, including Chilean composer Violeta Parra, who she names in the song, “Violeta Se Fué,” and Argentine singer Mercedes Sosa, American soul singer Erykah Badu and rapper Lauryn Hill.

Her partner, Ian Wapichana, a multi-instrumentalist and producer from an Indigenous community in Roraima, in the north of Brazil, often performs with Flow, and they wrote the song, “Etnocídio,” meaning “ethnocide” together.

It took Flow a long time to build a career as an artist. She lived in different cities in Brazil and worked odd jobs before she moved to São Paulo.Gisele Regatão/The World

Wapichana said he wrote his part and when they got to the studio; Flow confessed she had not written hers, so she did so on the spot, improvising.

“Her essence is still freestyling; it’s very emotional,” he said.

Together, the couple has three kids. Wapichana said that he supports Flow on the stage and at home.

“Brisa is at a really cool moment in her career; she’s flying a lot,” he said. “She’s in high demand, so I stay home more with the baby; I pick up a lot of the household responsibilities, so she can flow.”

It took Brisa Flow a long time to build a career as an artist. She lived in different cities in Brazil and worked odd jobs before she moved to São Paulo. Gisele Regatão/The World

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