Chuquimamani-Condori

Elysia Chuquimia Paula Crampton, known primarily by their Aymara name, Chuquimamani-Condori, is an American electronic musician, producer, poet, and composer. Their work touches upon themes of Aymara survival, LGBT and Aymara femme heritage, science fiction, references to Christian faith and ontology, and frequent utilization of samples and arrangements from varying sources.^[2] They make up one half of Los Thuthanaka, along with their brother Joshua Chuquimia Crampton. The two siblings identify with the Pakajaqi nation of Aymara people.^[3]

In fall 2025, they were awarded the Venice Biennale Silver Lion^[4] award following the release of Los Thuthanaka's self-titled album that spring.

Crampton began making music under the name E+E ("And & And" in Spanish) in the early 2000s.^[1] E+E consisted of several performers and contributing writers, editors, and DJ mixes made with a keyboard, acapellas, and a sampler.^[5]

In 2015, they ceased using the E+E alias and released their first studio album, American Drift, under the name Elysia Crampton.^[5] The album took three years to make and was made as a way to describe their unique experience of finding a home in Virginia in the aforementioned years.^[6] The album was released on August 7, 2015,^[2] and was met with critical success. The music review website Pitchfork gave the album an 8.1 out of 10 and said, in praise:

The Virginia producer Elysia Crampton's debut album is only four songs long, but it represents a monumental undertaking. She has described it as an exploration of Virginia's history as well as a meditation on brownness, on being Latina, and as a kind of geology. Her epiphanies feel hard-won, and they shine all the more brightly for it.^[7]

Crampton released their second album, Elysia Crampton Presents: Demon City, on July 22, 2016. It was a collaboration with friends/peers including Houston producer Rabit, Danish producer Why Be, London producer Lexxi, and Alabama producer Chino Amobi.^[8] Music review website Tiny Mix Tapes gave the album a 4.5 out of 5,^[9] while Pitchfork said: "Demon City, Virginia producer Elysia Crampton's follow-up to her sumptuous debut American Drift, is a wonder of concision and represents another massive leap forward in her growth," of the album.^[8]

In 2025, Chuquimamani-Condori and their brother Joshua Chuquimia Crampton released a self-titled album under the name Los Thuthanaka (English: The Moths). The album received universal acclaim, and it was named as the best album of 2025 by Pitchfork.^[10]

Their physical output to date has consisted solely of project studio or home studio recordings, with her first two LP's The Light That You Gave Me to See You (2013) and American Drift (2015), as well as EPs Bound Adam 2011 and Moth/Lake (2015) all being recorded in their Ford Ranger truck.^[11]

Chuquimamani-Condori's music is notable for drawing from an eclectic and wide variety of influences, including cumbia, and Andean music like huayno and tarqueada, as well as American genres like crunk, metal, ambient, R&B and minimalism. However, their eclecticism is owed to their understanding and incorporation of Aymara ontology in their music, specifically the concepts of taypi and ch'ixi. As a way of summing up her intent to a style, she has used the tags prog and folk to describe her music.^[5]

During the time of the making of their album American Drift, they were living in rural Virginia and being inspired by the expansive local geographical features around the area, described as "wild Southern surroundings", in the area, one of which was the Shenandoah Mountain. They previously made journeys around it, with one inspiring track two of American Drift, 'Petrichrist'.^[2] They are heavily inspired by varying forms of cultural music and the interesting sound design that often accompanies them, although their upbringing and roots in music that have influenced their show their presence. In an interview, they remarked that "the older I get, the uglier I want my music to feel, to be".^[12]

Through music, the post-colonial divide between Peru and Bolivia was bridged for me, and I was allowed to glimpse an ancient, illusive moment of my heritage that barred nationalistic dividings. The mixture of electronic and acoustic sounds, especially in huayno, provided inspiration that has stuck to this day. The incorporation of these textures into my own voice never had to be deliberately sought out; these ancestral/familial narratives, languages, tones, colors… moved with me as I musically came of age.^[12]

They also cited many individuals as influences for their 2015 album American Drift, including José Esteban Muñoz (a noted Cuban-American queer theorist), black pianist Margaret Bonds, Jeffrey Jerome Cohen (a writer and professor in Medieval studies) and queer performance artist, photographer and close friend Boychild.^[6]

They have said that their 2016 album, Elysia Crampton Presents: Demon City, was written in the style of a musical epic poem. They said that the album was inspired by Aymaran revolutionary Bartolina Sisa, who is often remembered in indigenous history.^[8] The album is a companion piece to their theatrical production & DJ set, Dissolution of the Sovereign: A Time Slide Into the Future (Or: A Non-Abled Offender's Exercise in Jurisprudence), written and performed as both a 'visual & performative essay', a sci-fi style play, and an ontological coda to Sisa's story with a narrative revolving around their severed limbs.^[8]

An album of Native American classical and folk, "Quirquincho Medicine", was released under their Aymara name, Chuquimamani-Condori, on Bandcamp on July 25, 2019.^[13]

Crampton took piano and keyboard lessons as a child, but later started taking music seriously after their teenage years, around 2007 to 2008.^[2] They were born and grew up in the desert outside Barstow, California.^[12] They lived a nomadic lifestyle, moving between the United States, Mexico, and Bolivia for most of their life.^[6] After finishing up their first studio album, American Drift, they returned to Bolivia, to care for their grandmother Flora.^[8]

Chuquimamani-Condori and their brother Joshua identify with the Pakajaqi nation of Aymara people, which descends from the pre-Hispanic Pacajes lordship, located in the modern-day Pacajes Province of Bolivia.^[3][14] They are the great-great-grandchildren of Francisco Tancara and Rosa Quiñones, spiritual leaders from the town of Rosario, Pacajes, who were leaders in indigenous resistance to state authorities in the early 20th century.^[3][15]

• E&E (2008, self-released)

• The Light That You Gave Me to See You (2013, self-released; rereleased by Total Stasis in 2016)

• Bound Adam (2011, self-released)
• Smile (2012, self-released)

• Edited/Remixed [2008–2012] (2014, self-released)

• American Drift (2015, Blueberry Recordings)
• Elysia Crampton Presents: Demon City (2016, Break World Records)
• Spots y Escupitajo (2017, The Vinyl Factory)
• Elysia Crampton (2018, Break World Records)
• Orcorara 2010 (2020, PAN)

• "Moth/Lake" (2015, Boomkat Editions)
• "Flora's Theme" (2016, Williams Street Records)
• "Final Exam" featuring Kelela (2016, The Vinyl Factory)
• "Solilunita" (2018, Break World Records)

• Selected Demos & DJ Edits [2007–2019] (2020, self-released)

• Dissolution of the Sovereign: A Time Slide Into the Future (Or: A Non-Abled Offender's Exercise in Jurisprudence) (2016)

• Quirquincho Medicine (2019, self-released)
• DJ E (2023, self-released)

• Edits (2025, self-released)^[16]

• Uta Pachanqiri (2019, self-released)
• 3 Demos (2020, self-released)
• Luzmila edits (2026, self-released)

• Los Thuthanaka (2025, self-released)