Music and Song Texts of Amazonian Indians

Music and Song Texts of Amazonian Indians
Author(s): Lila M. Wistrand

Source: Ethnomusicology, Vol. 13, No. 3 (Sep., 1969), pp. 469-488
Published by: University of Illinois Press on behalf of Society for Ethnomusicology
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MUSIC AND SONG TEXTS OF AMAZONIAN INDIANS
Lila M. Wistrand
V arious attempts have been made to describe so-called "primitive" song,

either on a world-wide scale as by Bowra (1963), on a hemispheric scale as
by Nettl in his chapter on Amerindian music (1965:147-68), or by individual
tribal groups. World-wide and hemispheric scopes are generally too broad and
heterogeneous, and individual descriptions of tribal music are often superficial,
scattered, and fragmentary. The purpose of this paper is to survey the
scholarship in the broader Amazonian area, then to focus on the Amazonian
regions of Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia in a regional study based on fairly accurate
and comprehensive studies of the music and song texts of the following groups:
Jivaro (Ecuador and Peru); Witoto, Ocaina, Bora (Peru, Colombia); Cashibo,
Conibo (Pano languages of Peru); Culina, Piro (Peru, Brazil); Sirion6 (Bolivia).
The broader Amazonian area is limited geographically to the greater
Amazonian watershed portions, which include rather homogeneous tribal groups
living in a tropical forest environment. Politically, this includes part of
Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Bolivia, and the Guianas. The
advanced civilizations of the Andes highlands are omitted due to extreme
geographical and cultural differences, though of course their influence has been
greatly felt throughout the Amazonian region. Fringe areas, such as the Llano or
Chaco regions, are occasionally mentioned.
Nettl categorically "writes off" the South American tribes by his
statement that they "for the most part have been absorbed into the
Hispanic-American cultures, to which they have contributed greatly, and whose
music they have to a large degree adopted" (1965:148). Dorson says, "We know
that the Spanish, Portuguese, and Indian traditions thrive and often fuse in Latin
American countries" (1967:161). Although there is some truth in both
statements, for many tribes have been absorbed or fused with national cultures,
there remains numerous tribes of Amazonia whose music, poetry, and folklore in
general, have been retained apart from the Hispanic-American cultures in spite of
some diffusions or modifications. Natural conditions of isolation in the jungle
vastness, and in many cases ejection from the dominant culture, maintain this
separation from the mainstreams of civilization, leaving the area relatively virgin
territory. Though a few trained investigators now work within the field of
Andean song and dance, even in that major language area (Quechua and Aymara)
reliable sources on indigenous song remain rare.
469
470 WISTRAND: MUSIC OF AMAZONIAN INDIANS
SURVEY OF LITERATURE
Just as the apparent plenitude of folk collections within the United

reduces to regional history, literature, and biography, with little materia
the demands of the professional investigator, so the relative abund
materials on Amazonia can be reduced to general regional ethnography
.and sketchy impressions, or simple adventure stories, there is little profe
valid material available for those seeking data on the folk music of this re
The nineteenth-century evolutionary view of tribal peoples gr
affected accounts given of tribal song, even long into the twentieth ce
Explorers, ethnographers, and missionaries who did not study either tho
or objectively the language and customs of the Amazonian people c
make proper judgments concerning their thoughts and motives nor const
proper setting for their music. In writing summaries of their impression
music of the Indians, such travelers only occasionally notated the tunes,
chiefly since the latter part of the nineteenth century. The songs wer
notated without accompanying texts, or texts in the native language wer
ed without a translation, or vice versa. In very few cases were all three p
An ideal report on the music of a tribal group would include ethn
background, musical transcription (notation), texts in the native languag
has been well analyzed linguistically, and literal and free translations of t
into a major Western language. The music, as analyzed by the ethnomusi
should include sections on tempo, meter, rhythm, scale system, and melo
Santa-Anna Nery briefly described the music and dancing of the Ind
the Amazon area, including music of one tune, in his book Le pa
Amazones (1885), which was translated into English in 1901. Steinen, af
expeditions into the Xingu and central Brazil, published his notes on th
and dance of the Bororo and other tribes, including maps and music of
tribes in central Brazil (1894). It was the most detailed of other works pu
on this topic in 1885, 1886, 1894 and 1895. Publications which fo
shortly after include those of Schmidt, who discusses the songs of the K
collected during ethnographic studies among the Indians in centra
(1905:418-24), and Steere (1903), who' includes three brief tunes of
tribes from the Purus River in Brazil.
Later, Roquette-Pinto (1938) published examples of Paressi musi
notation but no translation of texts, Peret (1930) included two notated
from Roquette-Pinto, and Cascudo (1945) gave one tune of the Teir
Roquette-Pinto and another collected by Jean de Lery in 1557. He then
some of the characteristics of the songs. Others providing music data fr
area are: Speiser (1926), who includes two tunes transcribed and com
upon by Arnold Deuber, with competent but brief information from the
Para; Cardim (1939), who gives a one-page summary of the songs of
WISTRAND: MUSIC OF AMAZONIAN INDIANS 471
tribes; Metraux (1928), who describes the fiestas and dances, in

references to songs accompanying the dances as well as medicine cha
Baltasar de Matallana (1939), a Venezuelan Capuchin missionary w
the music of the Taurepan Indians of the extreme southeastern
Venezuela, a region called the "Great Sabana," and gives the notation
songs with very good comments; and Igualada (1938), who include
Amazonian Indian melodies, most with native texts, from the
linguistic families: Arawak, Huitoto, Carib, and Tukano.
To complete the survey of the literature, von Hornbostel descri
music of the Masuschi, Taulipang, and the Yekuana tribes in Koch-G
Vom Rorima zum Orinoco (1917-28:111,207-440); Bose (1934)
characteristics of the Witoto songs and fifty-one tunes transcr
recordings; Correa de Azevedo (1938) includes forty-four musical exa
his article on the music of Brazilian Indians. Within the past few de
ethnomusicological studies of Aretz, Ramon y Rivera, Moreno, Pi
Key, Carvalho-Neto, and others are well known. Much of the i
literature is annotated in the references cited at the conclusion of this article.
However, those working in this field should consult Chase's extensive
bibliography of Latin American music (1962).
INSTRUMENTS
Early concern with the music of the Amazonian Indians centered on the
material culture, or musical instruments. Carvalho-Neto (1964) lists the name
no less than twenty-seven explorers, ethnographers, and scholars who w
attracted to this area, most of whom include descriptions of musical instrume
encountered in their journeys. Metraux, Nordenskiold, Rivet, Karste
Koch-Grunberg, Lewin, and Kirchhoff are some of the men whose descript
collectively give a fairly complete picture of the field of Amazonian music
instruments. Their publications include photographs, drawings, maps tracin
origins and diffusion, and general background information.
The instruments divide categorically, using the classification syst
established by Sachs and Hornbostel (1914), as follows:
I. Idiophones
A. Jivaro slit drum (hollow log)
B. Gourd rattles (seeds or stones inside)
C. Fruit and nut shell jingles (for ankles, wrists, head ornamen
shoulder ornaments, dress (cushma) decoration)
D. Land turtle instrument
E. Seashells
F. Beetle wings
G. Stamping tubes
II. Membranophones
A. Single-skin drum
B. Double-skin drum
C. Signal drums
1. Bora double drum
2. Tukano drum
III. Aerophones
A. Flutes
1. Bone or wood
2. Plug or notched-end
3. Transverse or vertical (of many varieties)
4. Bullroarers
B. Panpipes (of many sizes)
C. Ocarinas
D. Trumpets
1. Wood, cane, bark, horn, shell
2. End-blown; side-blown
E. Whistles (of many types)
IV. Chordophones
A. Violin (usually very crude)
B. Musical bow
For general summary works on musical instruments in this area, three

names are outstanding: Izikowitz (1935), Karsten (1926) and Metraux (1928).
Izikowitz, who is the most widely quoted, discusses in great detail the musical
instruments preserved in museums of Europe and the United States, as well as
summaries from historians, travelers, anthropologists, ethnologists, and others.
Karsten describes the drums, gourd rattles, flutes, and bullroarers of South
American Indians in general, with special reference to magic and religion
(1926:223-27), and of the Jivaro tribe in particular (1935:496-502). Metraux
devotes a chapter to musical instruments of the Guarani tribes, which spread
across Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, and Paraguay. He lists by tribe the instruments used
with illustrations and maps (1928:214-26). Matteson describes the instruments
of the Piros (1954:67).
MUSIC
Cascudo summarized a few very obvious points concerning indigenous

music in Brazil. He states that the Indians had music before they were
discovered, that being catechized transformed their music, and that after contact
with civilization much of the indigenous character of the music disappear

(1945:582-83). Those tribes which have resisted being catechized
acculturated have retained much of the essential nature of their Indian musi
Santa-Anna Nery (1885) points out that part of the Indian compositio
that were studied previously show evidence of European intercourse, thou
their "savage stock" is still felt; the characteristics of this "savage stock" ar
given. Ramdn y Rivera states that though the Motilones are placed culturall
level no higher or lower than that of the remaining Venezuelan tribes, th
repertoire "contains musical ideas that we could place among the mo
developed, with an ample scale, an incipient symmetry of rhythm and mea
and phrases, some semi-structured. . ." (1966:18).
Rhythm According to List's studies, based on Karsten and on List's ow
studies of recent recordings of Jivaro music, "Jibaro music displays a varie
rhythmic patterns, including dotted notes, occasional triplets and sim
syncopations. The words seem to be the governing factor in establishing t
rhythm" (1964:14). Igualada (1938:683) noted a markedly uniform rhythm
Colombian Indian music, whereas Santa-Anna Nery felt the tribal song he h
had a "sort of artless rhythm, composed under the influence of sud
inspiration, presenting vivid pictures" (1901:256). Whiffen places prim
importance on the rhythm over the largely subordinated music (1915:208).
According to Adams (1963), in the Culina rhythm one can distinguish
emotional state of the song. Their "victory" rhythm imitates the flying of
buzzards over the enemy dead when they sing of the defeat of their enemi
this respect she feels the Culinas are more realistic than people of We
civilization in their march rhythm. This stands in contrast with Whif
opinion that the native (referring to the Witotos) does not elevate rea
(1915:206). Adams is able to demonstrate how Culina music and rhythm
used to secure desired effects, such as a song which imitates the sound of
lashes, sung before a judgment to effect punishment. This music is also an
gral part of the lashing ceremony, one of the activities which takes place d
the marriage ritual.
In general the dance and chant tempo of the Amazonian tribes is fair
slow or moderately fast, but seldom frenzied. The rhythm and temp
sometimes maintained by accompanying drum beats, the tapping of a holl
cane pole on the ground, foot stamping, and rattles or similar instrument
although seldom by hand clapping. The Culinas, and many other groups, n
use instrumental accompaniment. They either sing or play, but never
together. Playing an instrument is an individual activity done in meditation.
Pitch. Technically accurate descriptions of Amazonian Indian music
practically non-existent. The usual impressionistic statements may be found
even many of the transcriptions and notations of scalar organization may
questioned. Igualada (1938) noted a large percentage of markedly diatonic s
in the music of Colombian tribes, but it is not clear whether he is referrin

diatonic scales containing intervals of seconds or heptatonic diatonic scales.
List, whose analysis is the most technical, detailed, and accurate of any
the sources listed for this particular area, found tritonic, triadic mel
organization in Jivaro music, but stated that the ditonic melody is the m
rudimentary of those published by Karsten, with an irregularity of metr
organization (1964:9). He avoids the question of the appropriateness of appl
the concepts of major or minor modes to the aboriginal music of the Wes
Hemisphere, but does feel that "evidence indicates that melodies do exist in
Jibaro musical style which utilize the structure we term the minor tr
(1964:12).
There is pentatonic organization in much of the music of the Peruvian
highlands, that is, in the Quechua and Aymara areas. We have found some
speculation that related traditions are only pentatonic in the last century, and
are not truly pre-Hispanic. Whether they emanate from the influence of the
Incas across the headwaters of the Amazon, or from other sources, evidence of
the pentatonic scale is found in the Amazonian area. Enrique Pinilla, a noted
ethnomusicologist of Peru, has analyzed the Culina scale of whole tones
as pentatonic, and Patsy Adams has observed that any combination of the
tones is used in different patterns in their songs. With the aid of a Peruvian
musician, Adams (1963) has also analyzed the Culina musical scale as
pentatonic, or descending la-sol-fa-re-do, with only three or four notes of the
five-note scale used in different patternings in the songs, or even only one of the
notes. Matteson, quoting Altig, states that in Piro music melody maintains more
prominence than rhythm, though both are intricate and wide-ranged. Piro, an
Arawak language, as is Culina, also uses a five-note scale, but corresponding to
the first, second, third, fifth, and sixth tones of our major scale (Matteson
1954:66-67). The exact location of a song in regard to the scale is not
important, for as in most Amazonian songs that location depends on the voice
range of the singer (Adams 1963:82,84). Cashibo songs, or chants, generally
involve two or three definite notes, many times only one note, with quarter or
microtonal variations. The two-note melody with some glissando occurs most
frequently (Wistrand 1967:13). It is not possible to give scalar organization for
these few notes. Sirion6 songs "begin and end with different tonal centers, due
to a gradual transposition" (Key 1963:18). This music, based on such few notes
without scalar organization, becomes monotonous to a person accustomed to
Western music with its wide variety of notes. Izaguirre felt that the majority of
the Shipibo men's songs were monotonous, though those of the women were
more harmonious and varied (1922-29:312). The variations of Amazonian music
are more slight and subtle, often taking the form of tremolo or glissando.
Manner of Singing. The manner of singing, either by individuals or groups,
is varied. Whereas previously groups of men chanted together in the men's rites,
today in the Cashibo tribe men or women almost exclusively sing ind
except during an occasional yearly feast. According to Whiffen (1915)
Witoto singing was done in unison. Key (1963:18) and List (1964:17) tel
individual nature of songs; for example, that an individual may "own"
and fit words on any topic to his tune. No singing in harmony has be
although round-type songs and polyphonic chants with no attempt at h
do exist. Moritz R. Schomburgk, however, who traveled in British Gu
1840-1844, noted that a basis of harmony ruled the sound in a co
"oboes" played by young boys of the Warrau tribe (Steward 1950:111,8
tribal young men are capable of learning Western harmony was docum
the Swiss Indian Mission in Peru, where a four-part a cappella choir san
with ease.1
The Indian singer varies the intonations and quality of his voice according
to his emotional mood. Men often include shrill whistles before or after their
song; the Jivaros chant at the onset of their ring dance, as do the Cashibos at the
close of a historical chant. The men sometimes sing in falsetto.
SONG TEXTS
The subject of song texts is seldom discussed in the basic,

well-documented materials available for the study of Latin American folklore.
Though ethnomusicologists are progressing in the study of tribal melodies and
their technicalities, anthropologists, linguists, folklorists, and literary analysts are
confronted with many problems in the individual and collective analysis and
comparison of song texts from scores of language families. Members of the
Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) have recorded tribal music from Ecuador
and Bolivia and deposited them at the Indiana University Archives of Traditional
Music. The author has also deposited Cashibo music of Peru in the Folklore
Archives at the University of Texas. The SIL office files in Peru include tape
recordings of music from many of the tribes of that country, including many
transcriptions of the song texts. Free translations are often difficult to find,
therefore the non-speaker of the language must often use the literal translation
for literary analysis. Only a knowledge of the language will allow complete
understanding of all cues on repetition, alliteration, onomatopoeia, syllable
repetition, symbolism, and imagery.
Repetition, a universal poetic device, is used freely in Amazonian song, in
repetition of words, phrases, lines, or groups of lines in refrains. Karsten tells of
a Jivaro song which consists only of repetitions of the word kungupi, a
mysterious night bird which may be the soul of a murdered enemy who will
cause sickness and death (Karsten 1935:323). A phrase may be repeated, such as
the location, subject, or object of a story or conjuration, as:
Yawanu ikyama, Tiger in the forest

Yawanu ikyama, Tiger in the forest
Yarairtaki takarseipya, Tiger, don't touch us!
Huimya, huimya.... Go away, go away....
(Karsten 1935:324)
Often in such poetry normal sentences consisting of several word

collapsed to a word or short phrase. In Cashibo, person-indicatin
particles of a type not found in English (e.g., caa translated"they,"is n
pronoun), are sometimes omitted or are forced to a position at the
poetic line. Or, there may be repetition of a word, morpheme, or syll
order to fill out a line, as in Cashibo:2
ain ai sinan caa Their senses they

sindn netequinria... Senses they had lost...
ain noo bai puace- His enemies' path throw-
bai puacenaquin.... Path being thrown down in....
(Wistrand 1967:21)
Concerning Piro repetition of lines, Matteson states:
Each song has a number of lines which are in themselves almost in

variable. However, the order of the lines, and even the total num
ber of lines in the song, vary at the pleasure of the singer. (1954:67
She found that a simple song of three lines (1-2-3) had the following va
3-2-2-3; 1-2-2-1; 1-2-2; 1-3-3-3.
Parallelism is common both in grammatical structure and in meanin
Jivaro song names birds and animals, each name followed by the sonoro
as:
Hej, hej, hej,

Yakuma a, hej! There is the howling monkey
Kapandinyu a, hej! There is the red one [the howling
monkey is red]
Choa a, hej There is the brown monkey
(etc., lasting one hour)
(Karsten 1935:322)
Song poetry in each language has its own grammar, and once the basic set
of generative rules is available for a language it can be organized into a series of
rules transforming normal sentences to their corresponding poetic forms. Each
poetic line has sets of grammatical elements which may or may not occur
together, according to their environmental restrictions. The structured form of
song poetry and its usual perpetuation by memorization aids in the retention of
archaic vocabulary and even in archaic grammatical or lexical elem

Cashibo men's song uses the following forms:
Heen chaiti.... (length My ancestors'

maenuxun caa.... mae-at
Heen papa maen. .. My father's mae

maenuxun caa.... mae-at
Hibufuma hii. .. Orphaned be...

Aabai-ia.... [I] was.
(see Wistra
The word mae presentl

language, which may be o
which seems a much mo
singer's father lived and
constructions are archaic
singers, who have memor
aware of its meaning in c
Each language will use
peculiar to that language,
diffusion of an idea or si
because of their animisti
animals and spirits in t
relations existing between
(1939 ed.:627). Igualada (19
centered principally arou
as a reason the fact that
Jivaros enumerate their l
as mentioned previously.
hogs are mentioned often
Cashibos use the names
according to characterist
tapir means "large"; that
odoriferous."
Just as the musical form
form also varies. A discus
various functional categor
Agricultural Songs. The
volved with planting, culti
in common their depend
groups, which are usually
the more aggressive tri
tropical forest slash-an
potatoes, varieties of corn, tubers, and sugar cane are cultivated througho
area in varying degrees. The Indians continue to gather nuts, fruits, and
seasonally from the jungle as they ripen, but in gathering there is not the
of risk involved as in the process of preparation of a garden and depende
the earth to produce. The activities of preparing and planting a gar
accompanied by ceremonies which will aid in the growth and protection
young plants.
Karsten (1935) describes perceptively the Jivaro agricultural rituals
songs, including all four basic elements of music, texts in the native lan
free translation, and ethnographic background. There are separate chant
planting each kind of food or, at the completion of planting, for the gro
all crops planted. Jivaro song texts include all the elements of repet
parallelism, regular rhythm, and special poetic grammar form. Kar
transcriptions of Jivaro song do not include all of the syllable repetitio
enable counting of syllables for each line except when placed with the m
score. The following shows the length and repetion of syllables:
u ..!. U / v
Nun-gui-i no-a-a a-sa-a-a-na,
Being daughters of Nungii,
.. u, , I ,
Nun-gu ,i no-a-
To Nungii we s
Ma-ma:an -ku-tu
Multiply our cr
Vn-chi-i -ku-tu
Multiply our cr
(Karsten 1
Whiffen includ
led by the chie
following fashion
Chief: I am old and weak and my belly craves food.

Who has sown the manioc in the plantation?
Wife: I have sown the manioc long, long ago.
The plantation is sown with young shoots.
Chorus: We have sown the manioc long, long ago.
The plantation is sown with young shoots.
Chief: I am old and weak and my belly craves food.
Who has cut the manioc in the plantation?
Wife: I, even I myself, have cut the manioc.
The manioc is cut in the plantation.
Chorus: We, even we ourselves, have cut the manioc.
The manioc is cut in the plantation. (etc.)
(1915:199-200)
Rites of Passage. Koch-Grunberg includes a Siusi chant on the occa

the birth of one's brother in this northwest Brazilian tribe:
Nuperi, nuperi, nuperi, nuperi, My brother,... (repeated)

Nuperi, nuperi, nuperi, nuperi, My brother,...
Ipanyaua nuperi, ipanyaua n6sa! My beloved brother, is born.
(1909:165)
Izaguirre describes a female circumcision fiesta of the Conibos,
said they learned it from the Cashibos. At the feast, men and worlen
in chorus invoking the flowers, plants, sun, moon, and elements of n
in favor of the one being circumcised and her family. Izaguirre gives onl
Spanish translation of a song called the Manchay, or sacred song of the C
(after its initial statement, each line is repeated by the chorus):
Vengan los gratos perfumes de la selva,

Vengan las sonajas del cedro y de la palma,
Vengan las aves magnificas y las perfumadas flores,
Vengan y mi obra veran.
(1922:1, 312)
Most tribes have a marriage feast with accompanying songs. Kar

(1935) describes the feast of the bride and her two women companions, w
chants are again sung to Nungii, the earth goddess, and to the crops.
The chief characteristic of the funeral songs is their melancholy note,
they are nearly always accompanied by crying or sobbing. Most com
methods of disposal of the bodies of the dead in this tropical area are crem
and burial in canoes. The belongings of the dead are either burned or dest
in some manner, or are buried with them, weapons with men and clay pots
women. Most tribes prohibit the use of the name of the deceased, s
references made to him only kin terms are used in the laments. Wailing
place either in groups, during the immediate occasion, or individually, wh
close relative continues to remember the deceased. In the early morning h
after a wake, the group wailing of the Aguarunas sounds like a chorus sing
rounds. An individual lament of the Cashibos takes the following form:
Papain ane bene caa, Father's name husband he

heen reti noonbi-i My to-kill enemies,
cucuin bac6 benean, Uncle's-son husband,
neewn tua benean, Aunt's-son husband,
am reti noo caa, His to-kill enemies,
inafiu-ma hacesa-a,... Acting like animals,...
(Wistrand 1967:20)
My husband, who was named after my father,

(was killed by) my bitter enemies,
My husband, who was my mother's brother's son,
My husband, who was my father's sister's son,
His bitter enemies,
Acting like animals (killed him).
(translation by Wistrand)
War Songs. The Culinas in southeastern Peru address a song to Gran

Owl for protection in war. The owl, thought to have a foreknowledge of
ing of persons, is asked to keep quiet so that his hooting will not give a
secrecy of the attack which is planned. They sing to him as follows:
Little Owl, be quiet.

If you don't say hoo, hoo, hoo
Then you will not divulge my presence.
May the stream not get muddy to divulge our presence.
(translation by Arlene Agnew from Adams 1963:8
The last line, not addressed to the owl, is a general hope expresse
singers.
A war song from an extinct group of Cashibos has been preserved by one
man who previously had contact with that group. It is:
Nucen tae chipuman, u-u, u, u, u-u, u-u,

e-e, e, e, e-e, e-e.
With our heels we stomp the earth [and thus
sing happily], u..... . .....
Nucen tae chipuman; noo hunaniama, noo hunamiruken,
u-u, u, u, u-u, u-u, e-e, e, ee, e-e.
With our heel; the enemy hasn't known, it hasn't
been shown to them, u ....., .....
Ishminacun pacara, u-u, u, u, u-u, u-u,
6-e, e, e, e-e, e-e.
The buzzards have eaten their flesh, u ..... . ....
Tete pechu pechumi, mia pechu mianu, u ...., .....
Like the hawk spreading his wings, he is flying
above you [eating you, who are spread out there],
. . .. .. . .. . ..
etet pechi reresa, mia rer

Like the stripes of the ha
we saw the stripes of
Nucen tae chipuman, u .
With our heels, u.... ; w
Manan chaxu pacemin, mia pace mianu, u ..... .....

We ran like deer, falling on you from above, u ...........
(Wistrand 1967:27)
Although the two tribes are of completely different language families

(Cashibo= Pano; Culina= Arauan group of Arawak), the similarities of figures are
striking in their war songs. The Culinas sang to "Grandfather Owl" for
protection; the Cashibos say in their war song that they are singing "like an
owl." The Culinas try to imitate the flapping wings of the hawks and buzzards in
their victory songs; the Cashibos mention the flapping wings of the vultures,
which eat the bodies of their enemy dead, in their victory songs.
Karsten includes song texts in his discussions of Jivaro war and victory
feasts. One called the anendrata is, in part, as follows:
Yachuta, yachuta, My brother, my brother,

Meseta himersatai, Let us make war together,
Winya uchiruna chichahei, To my son also I have said,
Uchita, uchita, My son, my son,
Kikarum hasti, (repeat) Make you strong, (repeat)
Winyaka mastinyu, Me they won't kill.
Wika miserchatinyu,... I will not die!
(1935:285-86)
Shamanistic Songs. Shamanistic chanting or singing is

smoking or drinking tobacco, drinking ayahuasca, blo
drum. In the sessions where ayahuasca, a vision-producing
among the Cocama, Shipibo, or Cashibo, the shamans sit i
then make invocations and begin singing. They call the
asking for clearness of mind. The music consists of some
sung by two or three men at the same time in indetermin
giving the effect of a round. Some ayahuasca drinkers a
with a musical bow with one metal or gut string.
A Cashibo shamanistic chant type called xuutncati, u
monotone, is used to keep lightning from striking, to ma
make corn sprout well, to keep from being snake-bitten, t
hunt, to guard against illness, and for other purposes.
In most tribes there are both professional m
non-professional old men who are able to practice wi
sorcery. The shamanistic songs, more than any other typ
syllables, possibly because they have often been learned
language.
Lullabies. Generally, it is the women who sing lullabies. However, linguistic
investigators working among the Sirion6 have not heard a women sing in that
tribe for five years. Whiffen (1915) felt that nursery songs were lacking f
Bora, Ocaina and Witoto. Basilio de Barral has collected several cradle song
the Warrau of Venezuela, which are translated as follows:
Little Brother
Little brother,
Don't cry, go to sleep,
The jaguar will come for you,
If you continue to cry,
Go to sleep!
The Jaguar Comes3
The jaguar comes,

Don't cry, go to sleep.
From his dwelling place on the cut leaves he comes,
and he will eat you.
Go to sleep,
The jaguar is coming.
He is going to eat you.
A monkey is coming.
Don't Cry
Don't cry, don't cry, go to sleep,

Because the water snake will come from the point,
My little child, ea, eh. My enchanting one, ea, eh.
Nana, nana, nana,
Tana, nana, nana.
(1957:31-32,34. Translated by Wistrand)
Game Songs. Whiffen (1915) tells of a Muenane Witoto riddle dance, with
improvised air and simple rhythm. Adams describes a Culina game song with the
following verse:
The older sister is surrounded by many.

Red clay is the 'masato' of the wild hog.
The sister-in-law is surrounded by many.
The clay is the 'masato' of the wild hog.
(translated from Adams 1963:87)
Arlene Agnew (personal communication) adds that the Culina game song occurs
in play something like the carnaval celebration of the Spaniards, with throwing
of mud or clay.
Religious and Historical Songs. All Piro music and songs are suppo
have been derived from contact with the gods (Matteson 1954:67). The
of central Peru sing a song to the sun god when the sun does not shine
days during "San Juan" (St. John festival), on or around June 25, durin
a mass of cold air usually comes from the south. In translation, the tex
song is as follows:
Jump, father god; jump, sun god; jump, Inca god;

I am cold. Warm me with your divine flame.
The moon is always in mourning.
I wait for you with a smile;
Show yourself in the heavens, beautiful and
resplendent!
(translated from Izaguirre 1922:1,311)
The Cashibos sing to the lightning god in the following manner:
Heen xoon piricu, My red bird,

ichurua capitan, Shining beautifully,
Miin xeta tuashi, Your little teeth,
banace, maxe ocacuna, Making noise and red colors,
ichurua camina, Shining, you
Hee merirua camina,... You are beautiful,...
(Wistrand 1967:22)
Most of the Amazonian tribes are so versatile that they can sing in
patterned, memorized formulas about any number of topics, or can
improvise about any topic at hand.
CONCLUSION
The field of tribal music and song texts relating to the Amazon regio
remains like the green jungle itself, largely virgin territory in need of fur
exploration and analysis. This paper attempts to survey the quality of the
umentary data available and to treat some of the problems concerned with
technical analysis of the music and texts. We may conclude that most acco
descriptions, and analyses are impressionistic, non-technical, and inaccura
Although phonorecordings are extant which have been collected among do
of tribes, detailed and technical analysis by a competent musicologist has
been attempted, aside from that of List (1964).
Future researchers must be able to correlate elements of the music with
the "message" of the song texts and relate these in their social context. Both
imagery and symbolism are frequently used in the song texts. They are
complicated, and are only fully understood when there is a knowledge of the
total culture and its structure. To arrive at complete, accurate descrip

cross-disciplinary problem involving aspects of musicology, ling
anthropology, and literary analysis.
University of Texas
Austin, Texas
FOOTNOTES
1. Tape-recorded by the author in 1963.

2. This and other Cashibo materials are from unpublished data collected amo
Cashibos of central Peru during field work in 1958-60, 1962-64, under the auspic
Summer Institute of Linguistics, where the author worked as linguist and mi
Cashibo is written in practical orthography devised by Dr. Olive Shell, where b = b, e
o in the International Phonetic Alphabet.
3. The jaguar spoken of here is both real and mythological. There is a ja
several heads, one who is the spirit of a dead person, enemy Caribs transformed into
and others.
REFERENCES CITED
Adams, Patsy
1963 "La mdsica culina," Perd Indigena 10(24/25):82-87.
Music of ten Culina songs with native words and some translations
Aretz, Isabel
1965 "La etnomusicologia en Venezuela," Boletin del Instituto de
4(6/8):257-312.
Brief summary of work on Venezuelan Indian music.
1967 Instrumentos musicales de Venezuela. Venezuela: Universidad de Oriente.
1967 "The polyphonic chant in South America," Journal of the International
Folk Music Council 19:49-53.
Concerns mestizo music chiefly, though indirectly connected with
Indian music.
Baltasar de Matallana, Fray

1939 La mlsica indigena taurepdn, tribu de la Gran Sabana. Caracas. Editorial
Venezuela.
Music of the Taurepan Indians of extreme southeast Venezuela, by a
Venezuelan Capuchin missionary. Music notation of twelve songs.
Barral, Brasilio de
1957 "Canciones de Cuna de los Warrau (Guarao, Guarauno)," Antropol6gica
2:31-38.
Bose, Fritz
1934 "Die musik der Uitoto," Zeitschrift fur vergleichende Musikwissenschaft
2(1):1-14.
Musical instruments (pp. 1-14) and characteristics of the Witoto songs
(pp. 24-39). Fifty-one Witoto tunes transcribed from recordings and
three songs from Tierra del Fuego.
Bowra, C. M.
1963 Primitive song. New York: Mentor Books.
Very few examples from Amazonian tribes, though much of his
discussion is applicable to this tropical forest area.
Cardim, Fernao
1939 Tratados da terra e gente do Brasil. Sao Paulo: Companhia edito
2nd ed.
Songs on p. 306. Modern edition of a work written in the early part of
the seventeenth century.
Carvalho-Neto, Paulo de
1964 Diccionario del folklore ecuatoriano. Quito: Editorial Casa de la Cultura
Ecuatoriana.
Includes an index of Ecuadorian folklore. "Song" included under
"Folklore poetico." Lacks thoroughness.
Cascudo, Luis da Camara
1945 Antologia do folklore brasileiro. Sao Paulo: Libraria Martins. (A Marcha do
Espirito, vol. 15.)
Chapter by Luciano Gallet tells of the musical ability of the Indians and
destruction of primitive music from influence of the whites. Other
chapter, "Old and modem music of the Indians" (pp. 581-83), includes
music of two songs and transcription of Indian words without
translations.
Chase, Gilbert
1962 A guide to the music of Latin America. Washington: Pan American Union. 2nd
ed.
Authoritative bibliography, including sections on Indian music for each
country.
Correa de Azevedo, Luiz Heitor
1938 Escala, ritmo e melodia na misica dos indios brasileiros. Rio de Janeiro:
Rodrigues.
Includes forty-four musical examples.
Dorson, Richard M.
1967 "The shaping of folklore traditions in the United States," Folklore
78(3):161-83.
References to work in Latin America.
Igualada, Fray Francisco de

1938 "Musicologia indigena de la amazonia colombiana," Boletin Latino-Americano
de Mdsica 4(4):675-708.
Sketchy descriptions of fourteen Amazonian Indian melodies.
Izaguirre Ispizua, Bernardino
1922-29 Historia de las misiones franciscanas y narraci6n de los progresos de la
geografla en el oriente del Peru. Lima: Talleres tipogrdficos de la penitenciarla.
Vol, 1, p. 312 tells of the Manchay, sacred song of the Conibos (Pano
language family). Other short descriptions of tribal songs, dances,
feasts.
Izikowitz, Karl Gustav

1935 Musical and other sound instruments of the South American Indians.
Goteborg: Elanders Boktr.
Classic and comprehensive survey of the distribution of musi
instruments of the Amazon tribes.
Karsten, Rafael
1926 The civilization of the South American Indians with special reference to magic
and religion. London: Paul, Tranch, Trubner; New York: A. A. Knopf.
Description of mask-dances (pp. 214-22) and of musical instruments
(pp. 223-27).
1935 The head-hunters of western Amazonas. Helsingfors: Societas scientiarum

fennica.
Transcriptions of Jivaro music in chapter 14 (pp. 496-502). Nine other
tunes on pp. 135, 137, 200, 323, 325, 415, and 467. Transcriptions and
translations well done, including descriptions of social settings of music.
Key, Mary
1963 "Music of the Sirion6 (Guaranian)," ETHNOMUSICOLOGY 7(1): 17-21.
Describes simple tunes of the Sirion6 of Bolivia. Song descriptions,
some social background, little on texts of the songs.
Koch-Grtlnberg, Theodor
1909 Zwei jahr unter den Indianer; Reisen in Nordwest-Brasilien, 1903-1905.
Berlin: Erst Wasmuth. 2 vols. Republished: Zwei jahre bei den Indianern
nordwest-Brasiliens. Stuttgart, 1923.
Indigenous music of north Brazil and Venezuela collected in 1911-13
by mechanical means. Music included in chapters 6, 8, 20.
1917-28 Vom Roroima zum Orinoco. Berlin: D. Reimer. 3 vols.
Descriptions and illustrations of musical instruments from various tribes
of Brazil. Descriptions of Indian songs and dances in vol. 3, pp. 154-66.
Includes some words to music on pp. 162-66, translated into German.
Well-notated music from the Masuschi, Taulipang, and Yekuana tribes,
by Hornbostel, from recordings in the archives of the Institute of
Psychology of the University of Berlin. Musical scores would be more
valuable if accompanied by words in the Indian language and their
translation.
List, George
1964 "Music in the culture of the Jibaro Indians of the ecuadorian montaAa,"
Inter-American Music Bulletin 40/41:1-17.
Valuable summary and analysis of Karsten and Stirling's works on
Jivaro music and song texts, supplemented by List's analysis of Jivaro
music recorded by G. Turner of the Summer Institute of Linguistics
and now housed among the collections held by the Indiana University
Archives of Traditional Music.
1966 "Ethnomusicology in Colombia," ETHNOMUSICOLOGY 10(1):70-76.
Short summary of work done in Amazonian area.
Matteson, Esther
1954 "The Piro of the Urubamba," Kroeber Anthropological Society Papers, no.
10:25-99.
Includes discussion of music, musical instruments, words to two songs.
Metraux, Alfred
1928 La civilisation materielle des tribus Tupi-Guarani. Paris: P. Geuthner.
Chapter 27 (pp. 214-26) includes description of musical instruments.
Compiled mostly from Nordenski'ld, Steinen, Snethlage,
Koch-Grunberg, and others.
Nettl, Bruno
1965 Folk and traditional music of the Western continents. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.:
Prentice-Hall.
In the section "The American Indians," some few facts and
observations are applicable to Amazonian tribes, with Key's Sirion6 as
an example of the area, but generally Amazonia is neglected.
Nordenskiold, Erland
1919 Comparative ethnographical studies. Goteborg: Elanders Boktryckeri Aktiebolog.
Vol. 1: An ethnographic analysis of the material culture of two Indian
tribes in the Gran Chaco.
Chapter titled "Signals and Musical Instruments" (pp. 164-83)

those of the Choroti and Ashluslay tribes. They have many instr
and there is an excellent chart on instruments included, p. 183.
Vol. 2: The changes in the material culture of two Indian trib
the influence of new surroundings.
Lists and discusses the musical instruments of the Chirigua
Chane tribes. Maps of distribution of two types of trumpets
panpipes. Good bibliography.
Vol. 10: An historical and ethnological survey of the Cuna Indi
Numerous pages of song texts with translations into literal Sp
free translations and no musical notations. Prescriptions and
songs (pp. 510-611); song about a bird which catches snake
622-49); song for pleasure (pp. 64349); the song of the sh
650-56).
Peret, Elsie Houston
1930 Chants populaires du Bresil. Paris: Librairie Orientaliste Paul Geut
Includes two Indian chants taken from Roquette-Pinto's Ro
nos. 40 and 41, pp. 44-46. Music and native words with no tra
Ram6n y Rivera, Luis Felipe
1966 "Music of the Motilone Indians," ETHNOMUSICOLOGY 10(1):18-27.
Includes six songs and two flute pieces. A work of high calibre.
Rivet, Paul
1927 "La musique indienne en Amerique," La Nature 69:244-47.
Roquette-Pinto, Edgardo
1938 Rondonia. Sao Paulo: Companhia editora nacional. 4th ed.
Musical instruments and music of the Paressi tribe of Brazil.
Transcriptions of recordings with music and native words of eight tun
of "Pareci," two tunes of "Indios da Serra do Norte," three tunes
"Sertanejos Cuiabanes." Lacks translations. Work was first published
Rio de Janeiro in 1917.
Sachs, Curt and Erich M. von Hornbostel

1914 "Systematik der Instrumentenkunde," Zeitschrift fUr Ethnologie 46:553-90.
Santa-Anna Nery, Frederico Jose de
1885 Les pays des Amazones. Paris: L. Frinzine. English edition, translated by
George Humphrey (London, 1901).
Schmidt, Max
1905 Indianerstudien in Zentralbrasilien; erlebnisse und ethnologische Ergebnisse
einer Reise in den Jahren 1900 bis 1901. Berlin: D. Reimer.
Discusses the songs of the Kulisehu Indians on pp. 418-24.
Snethlage, Emil Heinrich
1939 "Musikinstrumente der Indianer des Guapore-Gebietes" Baessler-archiv 10: 3-3 8
Speiser, Felix
1926 Im dister des brasilianischen Urwalds. Stuttgart: Strecker und Schroder.
Two tunes from the state of Pard. "Musikinstrumente und Musik der
Aparai" (pp. 320-22) by Arnold Deuber, two tunes and brief
comments, with music.
Steere, Joseph Beal

1903 "Narrative of a visit to Indian tribes of the Purus River, Brazil," in U.S.
National Museum, Annual Report, 1901:359-93. Wash., D.C.: The Museum.
Includes three brief tunes, pp. 378 and 387.
Steinen, Karl von den

1894 Unter den naturvolker Zentral-Brasiliens. Berlin: D. Reimer. Translated into
Portuguese by Egon Schaden (Sao Paulo, 1940).
Music and dance, pp. 295-329.
Steward, Julian H., ed.
1950 Handbook of South American Indians. Vol. 3. Washington, D.C.: Bureau of
American Ethnology, Bulletin 143.
Small sections on music and dance of families of languages and separate
tribes, mostly on musical instruments.
Whiffen, Thomas
1915 The north-west Amazons: Notes of some months spent among cannibal tribes.
London: Constable.
Descriptions of music, instruments, and dances of the Witoto, Bora, and
Ocaina tribes of northeast Peru and southern Colombia, chapters 15,
16. English words for four main chants.
Wistrand, Lila M.
1967 "Cashibo chants." Unpublished manuscript.

Music and Song Texts of Amazonian Indians

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Music and Song Texts of Amazonian Indians

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Music and Song Texts of Amazonian Indians

Author(s): Lila M. Wistrand

V arious attempts have been made to describe so-called "primitive" song,

Just as the apparent plenitude of folk collections within the United

tribes; Metraux (1928), who describes the fiestas and dances, in

For general summary works on musical instruments in this area, three

Cascudo summarized a few very obvious points concerning indigenous

with civilization much of the indigenous character of the music disappear

in the music of Colombian tribes, but it is not clear whether he is referrin

The subject of song texts is seldom discussed in the basic,

Yawanu ikyama, Tiger in the forest

Often in such poetry normal sentences consisting of several word

ain ai sinan caa Their senses they

Each song has a number of lines which are in themselves almost in

Hej, hej, hej,

archaic vocabulary and even in archaic grammatical or lexical elem

Heen chaiti.... (length My ancestors'

Heen papa maen. .. My father's mae

Hibufuma hii. .. Orphaned be...

The word mae presentl

Chief: I am old and weak and my belly craves food.

Rites of Passage. Koch-Grunberg includes a Siusi chant on the occa

Nuperi, nuperi, nuperi, nuperi, My brother,... (repeated)

Vengan los gratos perfumes de la selva,

Most tribes have a marriage feast with accompanying songs. Kar

Papain ane bene caa, Father's name husband he

My husband, who was named after my father,

War Songs. The Culinas in southeastern Peru address a song to Gran

Little Owl, be quiet.

Nucen tae chipuman, u-u, u, u, u-u, u-u,

etet pechi reresa, mia rer

Manan chaxu pacemin, mia pace mianu, u ..... .....

Although the two tribes are of completely different language families

Yachuta, yachuta, My brother, my brother,

Shamanistic Songs. Shamanistic chanting or singing is

The Jaguar Comes3

The jaguar comes,

Don't cry, don't cry, go to sleep,

The older sister is surrounded by many.

Jump, father god; jump, sun god; jump, Inca god;

The Cashibos sing to the lightning god in the following manner:

Heen xoon piricu, My red bird,

total culture and its structure. To arrive at complete, accurate descrip

1. Tape-recorded by the author in 1963.

Baltasar de Matallana, Fray

Igualada, Fray Francisco de

Izikowitz, Karl Gustav

1935 The head-hunters of western Amazonas. Helsingfors: Societas scientiarum

Chapter titled "Signals and Musical Instruments" (pp. 164-83)

Sachs, Curt and Erich M. von Hornbostel

Steere, Joseph Beal

Steinen, Karl von den

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