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YASTAY
Yastay is the latest episode of the Cosmovisional Sound Stories® series by Iliana Diaz Lopez, premiered at the London Design Biennale 2025 as part of Sur Andina, the Argentina Pavilion, created by the collective Madre Tierra Designers.
Presented as an immersive experience, Yastay explores narrative, heritage, sound, music, and materiality.
It is conceived as a temple of awareness and awakening, a space that reconnects us with our inner being and the vast spirit of the Andean Mountains.
An ancestral and living call, Yastay echoes through generations—inviting reflection, presence, and the deep memory carried by land, sound, and story.
Yastay - Llastay (or Llajtay)
Yastay, also known as Llajtay - LLastay, is a mythical guardian from Andean culture—protector of birds and wild animals that inhabit the high mountains. He is often envisioned as an elderly man with a white beard, holding a sceptre and a flute. His music is said to calm even the fiercest of beasts.
“He walks the mountains with feathered sandals and the silence of wind.”
Wearing ojotas that resemble wings, he moves across the rugged landscape in weightless leaps. He is not bound to a single form—Llastay can appear as a youthful man or as an animal (witnesses have seen it in the form of a guanaco), often the one that stands apart from the herd.
He guides and advises shepherds who live in harmony with nature, but also punishes hunters who prey on wildlife without reason or respect. His presence serves as a reminder of the sacred relationship between human beings and the natural world.
Reference: https://pueblosoriginarios.com/sur/andina/diaguita/yastay.html
Fragments of testimonies...
Reference: Berta Elena Vidal de Bettini, 1984, Cuentos y Leyendas populares de la Argentina, Tomo VIII, Ediciones Culturales Argentinas.
Yastay by Iliana Diaz Lopez
Synopsis: The sound story begins with a musical introduction, represented by a female choir as the voice of Pachamama (Mother Earth) to the rhythm of Carnavalito (Argentine folk dance) as an echo, Mother Earth calls for Yastay and a realistic Andean escene is present with its bird sounds and guided by the force of the Andean wind. The path traced by the wind, summons a guanaco calf that perceives Yastay arrival through the gusts that resonate, its presence and melody calms and rejoices this little one, because its protective spirit is here and everywhere, a change is approaching, the rebirth of the Andean community arrived. 'Reflective times' . (See : Eclipse)
Credits
Original Score Composer, Sound Designer, Foley Artist, Mixing & Recording Engineer, Female Choir Singer, Instrument Player, Curator, Producer :
Iliana Diaz Lopez
Vocal Recording Engineer, Atmos Engineer, Mixing & Recording Engineer, Music Producer :
John Barrett
Sound FX and Musician:
Florencia Diaz
Ethnomusicology Curator:
Maria Mendizabal
Curator Consultant:
Teresa Pereda
Audio Sponsor:
SONOS