Two Cuenca Folk Groups Take Ecuador’s Culture To Istanbul
Chip Moreno
Two Cuenca cultural groups, Llactapi Jatarishu and Takiri Ecuador, are representing Ecuador at the Büyükçekmece international festival in Istanbul.
The trip
The groups are participating from July 23 through August 2, 2026, in the festival’s 27th edition. Takiri Ecuador is led by maestro Daniel Rodas, while Llactapi Jatarishu is a Cuenca folk ballet that has previously performed internationally.
Why it matters locally
This is a small but real cultural marker for the city: Cuenca’s music and dance scene is travelling with repertoires tied to the Amazon, central Sierra, Azuay, and Imbabura. It is the kind of local institution visitors may encounter at neighborhood festivals and city cultural programming, now carrying that work abroad.
Source: El Mercurio
Keep Cuenca's daily expat briefing independent.
Reader support helps pay for reporting, translation, editing, hosting, and the daily work behind CuencaExpat.
