Bizet aria goes Indian

A Chilean Mapuche Indian has recorded an aria from French composer Georges Bizet's opera Carmen in her native tongue, Mapudungun, in a bid to preserve a culture whose traditions are disappearing.

Opera student Maria Pasten Curilen, 25, hopes her version of the aria Habanera, translated into Mapudungun from the original French, will help rekindle interest among other young Mapuche in their own heritage.

Just 4.6 per cent of Chile's population of around 16 million say they are Mapuche.