“The Inkas’ Song Emanates from My Tongue:” Learning and Performing Shipibo Curing Songs

Abstract

In this article, I will focus on the processes of learning how to sing – that is, of acquiring curing songs – as well as on the musical phenomena occurring during the current performance. The native people’s communication with beings surrounding them is tightly bound to regarding these as self-reflecting, more or less intelligent agents. As I will show, musical learning and performance addresses such non-humans. A closer view on the singer’s subject positionality during the iteration of musical structures of curing songs can help to understand the role non-humans play in Shipibo ‘medicina’ and further on, in the Shipibo lived world.
In order to unfold my argument, I will first embark on a cultural analysis of the contexts, origins, and functions of the songs. Doing so, I will mainly refer to what the singers themselves told me about their art. These indigenous explanations provide a synthesis of my field research in the region. The fieldwork was conducted mainly from an intracultural point of view, combined with interethnic comparative data. The cultural analysis will include indigenous terminology with regards to cosmology and musical phenomena, an exploration of the ontological status of ‘a song’, and a detailed description of how the singers are supposed to acquire their songs from non-humans. Thereafter, I am going to present and analyze four Shipibo curing songs. Their melodic form, excerpts from their lyrics, and their performance modalities will be compared. Discussing the similarities and differences between these songs, I seek to explore if an analysis of performance could shed more light on the songs’ meaning than an analysis of their form.

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Bernd Brabec de Mori
“THE INKA’S SONG
EMANATES FROM MY TONGUE”:
LEARNING AND PERFORMING
SHIPIBO CURING SONGS
Introduction: Amazonian Cosmologies and Music1
“…nihuen queyoa seneman / Incabotibi
senenibi joyoni / shoquitibi joyoni…” 2
“…having completely eliminated the stench / together with all the Incas
we will form a perfect line / dancing seesaw in a line…”
When Senen Bita, an elderly Shipibo-Konibo3médico, started
to sing, a hush fell over the assembled family members, and the
73
1A draft version of this paper was presented by the author at the 39th World
Conference of the ICTM in Vienna, July 5-11, 2007 with the title: “The Inca’s
Song Emanates from my Tongue: Composition vs. Oral Tradition in Western
Amazonian Curing Songs”. The fieldwork I conducted in the Peruvian Amazon
was facilitated by grants from the University of Vienna, an employment at the
British Centre of Pucallpa and finally a ‘DOC’ grant from the Austrian Academy
of Sciences. The Vienna Phonogrammarchiv provided technical support and all
my recordings are archived there. I would like to thank Gerhard Kubik, Elke
Mader, Bruno Illius, Fernando Santos-Granero, Anthony Seeger, María Cortez
Mondragón and Dale A. Olsen for our fruitful discussions regarding the topics
treated here. I would also like to thank Paul Bergmans and Yvonne Schaffler
for helping with constructive critics on earlier drafts of the manuscript, and Mar-
tina Koegeler for correcting it. Finally, I express my deep gratitude to the native
communities on the Ucayali river.
2Passage from a curing song by the highly esteemed, deceased Neten Huitá, cit.
in Illius (1987: 322). Illius translates into German: “Wenn der »nihue« weggeschafft
ist,/werde ich mich mit den Inkas/zusammen in eine Reihe stellen/und in einer
Reihe mit ihnen langsam tanzen”. Translation to English by the author.
3The Shipibo-Konibo (henceforth Shipibo) are a pano-speaking indigenous
group living mainly along the Ucayali River in the peruvian lowlands. They num-
ber up to 50.000, and besides people still living in subsistence in more remote
communities, the majority has adopted a modernized lifestyle, some of them li-

young man who had come to consult the healer. Senen Bita had
drunk a psychoactive plant preparation called ayawaska4, or nishi
in Shipibo language, about half an hour ago. As people fell silent,
the omnipresent nighttime orchestra of rainforest animal sounds
provided the acoustical backdrop for Senen Bita’s voice. He sang
about plants and animals, calling upon them, and about opening
worlds in heavenly light. Soon his voice changed to an impressive
falsetto, at exact pitches, reminding me, the European listener, of
a well trained opera soprano. In his lyrics, he mentioned the inka
people. Inka doctors and inka nurses worked in their hospital on
a shining metal apparatus. The inka people were singing and danc-
ing, and later, Senen Bita explained that he had imitated the inkas’
songs, and that they were essentially powerful médicos. They
would be able to cure the young man who was dozing in front of
the healer.
Nowadays, the importance of singing in Amazonian indigenous
and some mestizo societies is not to be questioned anymore. Nu-
merous studies within the past thirty years have specifically dealt
with singing for power. Seeger (1987) describes music performance
as the very foundation of the social construction and worldview of
the Suyá group in central Brazil. Likewise, Hill (1992, 1993) ana-
lyzes the meaning of ritual chants in Venezuelan Wakuénai soci-
eties. More recently, Olsen (1996) indicates the importance of
singing in his book on the Venezuelan Warao, subtitled “Song Peo-
ple of the Rain Forest”. The influence of singing on individual and
social identity as well as health among South American tropical
forest cultures is an established fact and a growing issue in both
anthropology and ethnomusicology. In the Brazilian Amazon, for
example, Menezes Bastos and some of his students (Piedade 2004,
2013, among others), have been intensively researching the role of
La música y los pueblos indígenas
(3) ving from tourism, others from logging; many young people are studying in
the town of Pucallpa or in Lima. For more details on the Shipibo see Illius (1987,
1999) and Brabec de Mori (2015).
4Ayawaska is a liquid obtained from cooking at least two plants together for
several hours, usually the ayawaska vine (Banisteriopsis caapi) and leaves of
chakruna (Psychotria viridis). The resulting concentrated brew is then ingested,
producing hallucinogenic effects, broadly described in the literature, see Labate
and Araújo (2004). About its history, see Brabec de Mori (2011), for its use out-
side of the rainforests Labate and Jungaberle (2011).
74

music in selected societies. Menezes Bastos (2004: 5) explains “that
music occupies a privileged space among the indigenous societies
in the South American lowlands, being one of the most important
keys to sociability and having strong connections to the cosmology
and philosophy of the groups in the region” (author’s translation).
This was elaborated further in the more recent volume edited by
Brabec de Mori, Lewy and García (2015). Within the Peruvian Ama-
zon, vocal forms in the context of healing and sorcery have been
treated as important factors in lowland groups’ cosmologies and
especially in “ayahuasca shamanism” (see Dobkin de Rios and Katz
1975, Luna 1986, 1992 on urban mestizo populations, Brown 1986
on the Shuar, Illius 1987 and Tournon 1991 on the Shipibo-Konibo,
Townsley 1993 on the Yaminawa, Whitten and Whitten 1998 on
the Naporuna; Gow 2001 on the Yine, among others).
The idea of amerindian perspectivism (Viveiros de Castro 1992,
1997; Lima 1999) is based upon an animistic perception of the cos-
mos as attributed to Amazonian indigenous societies by many au-
thors (Baer 1994, Gow 2001, Descola 1992, 2005). Every language
group and even many families or individuals in the Amazon basin
perceive their world in a very specific or individual way. According
to perspectivism, the world is perceived differently from different
points of view. Although this seems obvious, a basic animistic con-
struct assumes that animals, plants and geographic entities like
rivers, lakes or mountains5are supposed to also perceive the world
actively. From their perspective and with their consciousness, these
non-humans perceive the world like human beings would do and
consider themselves to be human beings. This means that within
every society of non-humans, these entities perceive themselves as
the main agents in their world, just as we human beings do. Each
perspective on the world, from each society (human and non-
human), thus constitutes a perspective on the world which does
“The Inka’s Song Emanates from my Tongue”: Learning and Performing Shipibo Curing Songs
75
5In Western Amazonia, geographical entities are mentioned to a lesser extent
than in Andean highland cultures. However, some highland entities, e.g. the
Huaringa lakes, are well known in the lowland area, and the Asháninka and
Yanesha people also know many geographical entities (Santos-Granero 2004).
Viveiros de Castro (1997) and Lima (1999) mainly refer to human-animal rela-
tionships, but Viveiros de Castro (1997: 102) indicates “…that in Western Ama-
zonian cultures […] the personification of plants seems not to be less important
than [the personification] of animals” (author’s translation).

not necessarily appear similar to others. With this concept, many
different “natures” emerge, which can be subsumed as “multinatu-
ralism” (Viveiros de Castro 1997: 106-107). Descola (1992) and Lima
(1999), among others, explain how social relationships between
humans and non-humans are made possible. It is mainly the task
of specialized “shamans” to relate and coordinate between these
multiple natures and manifold societies.
How this concept can be implemented in music research is
shown for example by Uzendoski et al. (2005), who analyze the
relations of female Naporuna singers with animals and spirits from
a perspectivistic point of view. In many passages of their song
lyrics, the singers refer to animal qualities or identify themselves
with animals. The authors show that music performance can be
powerful in many different contexts. Therefore, they apply the term
“shamanic practice” (Uzendoski et al. 2005: 657-658). “Shamanic”
and related terms are established in anthropological literature and
the authors use it in accordance with the common definition: they
connect the term to communication with non-humans and to the
area of medicine, as they recount that “shamanic actions often elicit
counter-responses from rival shamans or spirits (Whitehead and
Wright 2004); women’s songs are part of this field of relations,
thought to influence life, death, sickness, and health” (Uzendoski
et al. 2005: 658).
I remain hesitant in using the term “shamanism” and related vo-
cabulary because of its manifold popular connotations, its etic im-
position on, and lack of precise meaning within the described
Western Amazonian indigenous societies6. Using an appropriate
emic term is fairly impossible, as, for example, curing specialists
are often addressed with technical names (Shipibo yobé, for in-
stance, denotes both the specialist as well as the objects he is work-
ing with, in that case magical darts). Most indigenous people on
the Ucayali river use the Spanish term médico to generally address
such curing or inflicting specialists and curar for describing their
action. Within this context, medicina is used to designate the whole
complex of indigenous (and mestizo) transformative concepts, in-
La música y los pueblos indígenas
6For a profound critic on the presumed universal applicability of “shaman”-
related terminology see Martínez González (2009).
76

cluding the treatment (tratamiento) of physical, psychological, so-
cial and cultural problems.
This nevertheless reinterpreted and laden terminology around
medicina bears some advantages compared to “shamanism”: it is
closer to native discourse, as most curing specialists self-identify
as médicos (while almost exclusively those who work with tourists
call themselves chamanes). Additionally, it carries less romantic
images, and finally, it includes a certain intentionality: medicina is
connected to transforming a condition which is perceived as neg-
ative towards a more desirable condition and it always includes
the purpose of curing. Therefore, I prefer to use the term medicina
rather than “shamanism”. However, there is also a drawback: treat-
ment and curing (curación) are meant to correct conditions which
are regarded negative (e.g. illnesses, sorcery, or bad luck) but also
have a dangerous aspect, because inflicting and sorcery techniques
are likewise included in medicina7. One has to keep in mind that
these reinterpreted terms regarding medicina have a strictly posi-
tive meaning in Western society, but an ambivalent one in Amazo-
nia: curar means “to heal” as well as “to bewitch” (cf. Whitehead
and Wright 2004, Brabec de Mori 2009).
The medical songs or curing songs performed by Western Ama-
zonian specialist médicos reveal richness in musical structures,
lyrics, performance and contextual implications. Their performance
is related to many topics, such as mechanisms of efficiency, asso-
ciations with the indigenous cosmos, and history (mythology),
group identity, as well as the individual singer’s identity, commu-
nication between the living and the dead, and many more.
Aims and Methods
In this article, I will focus on the processes of learning how to
sing – that is, of acquiring curing songs – as well as on the musical
“The Inka’s Song Emanates from my Tongue”: Learning and Performing Shipibo Curing Songs
77
7Although this seems paradoxical, a person who hires a sorcerer to harm some-
body, would probably perceive his current condition (e.g. feeling envy all day
long) worse than the condition she or he would wish to obtain (e.g. feeling su-
perior to the victim). Furthermore, much of the inflicting is undertaken in “de-
fense”, as a part of the curing of sorcery, when the damage (daño) has to be
redirected to the original caster.

phenomena occurring during the current performance. The native
people’s communication with beings surrounding them is tightly
bound to regarding these as self-reflecting, more or less intelligent
agents. As I will show, musical learning and performance addresses
such non-humans. A closer view on the singer’s subject position-
ality during the iteration of musical structures of curing songs can
help to understand the role non-humans play in Shipibo medicina
and further on, in the Shipibo “lived world” (Gow 2001: 26).
In order to unfold my argument, I will first embark on a cultural
analysis of the contexts, origins, and functions of the songs. Doing
so, I will mainly refer to what the singers themselves told me about
their art. These indigenous explanations provide a synthesis of my
field research in the region. The fieldwork was conducted mainly
from an intracultural point of view, combined with interethnic com-
parative data (cf. Kubik 2004: 53-60). The cultural analysis will in-
clude indigenous terminology with regards to cosmology and
musical phenomena, an exploration of the ontological status of a
“song”, and a detailed description of how the singers are supposed
to acquire their songs from non-humans. Thereafter, I am going to
present and analyze four Shipibo curing songs. Their melodic form,
excerpts from their lyrics, and their performance modalities will be
compared. Discussing the similarities and differences between
these songs, I seek to explore if an analysis of performance could
shed more light on the songs’ meaning than an analysis of their
form8.
Curing Songs, Contexts and Terminology
Throughout Western Amazonia, a specialized medicinal tech-
nique is highly popular today, ayawaska drinking. “Ayahuasca
shamanism” is growing in popularity, not only because of the prop-
aganda (sometimes involuntarily) caused by visitors and anthro-
pologists publishing about the phenomenon and finding approval
in Western “neo-shamanic” or esoteric scenes, but also within the
La música y los pueblos indígenas
8It is not the aim of the present paper to give any psychological, medical or
other scientific explanation on the effectiveness of the mentioned curing songs
or other indigenous medical concepts.
78

local population. In many cases curing events and the correspon-
ding songs are performed while the médico is under the influence
of ayawaska. The performance of curing songs, however, is not
necessarily connected to the ingestion of the drug. In all the in-
digenous societies I visited in the field, curing songs are regarded
to be efficient also if sung without the influence of any drug, and
also in daylight (ayawaska drinking always takes place during
night-time). Furthermore, efficiency is also assumed when songs
are whistled, and the médico only mentally pronouncing the words
or lyrics (cf. Olsen 1996: 259-260 on the Warao hoa songs). In Ship-
ibo everyday life, the performance of curing songs (sung or whis-
tled) occurs without the use of ayawaska as often as during
ayawaska sessions. The four examples I present in this paper were
sung under ayawaska influence. Both médicos who sang the ex-
amples declared that “singing is easier” (más facil se canta) when
inebriate.
In Shipibo curing sessions, songs from three native genres are
most frequently used. Although each Shipibo singer may present a
proper terminology, which could differ from the one used here,
the following categories are understood by all and accepted by
most Shipibo individuals: mashá are repetitive songs with a thriving
four-beat rhythm usually performed at drinking feasts with a round-
dance performance; bewá are songs in a slower rhythm that can
be sung alone, in small groups, at festivities or in private contexts;
and ikaro are performed in a style more unusual to Shipibo aes-
thetics, with a salient pulse and often ascending and descending
melodic lines. There are more genres outside the curing complex,
like shiro bewá (joking songs), nawarin (a specific dance), ai iká
(female rite of passage songs), and many more. However, perform-
ances of songs other than the mashá, bewá or ikaro type is ex-
tremely rare in the medical context. The ikaro genre, on the other
hand, is never performed outside a curing context. This is interest-
ing, because throughout the Peruvian lowlands mainly mestizos,
but also many indigenous people, use this term to refer to any
song related to the ingestion of ayawaska in order to cure (cf. Luna
1986: 90f and 1992, Bustos 2008, among others). However, most
Shipibo people use this term only for a certain formal song cate-
gory which can also be performed without ayawaska ingestion,
“The Inka’s Song Emanates from my Tongue”: Learning and Performing Shipibo Curing Songs
79

though exclusively within a curing context. Usually, ikaro songs
are performed for certain purposes. For example, to retrieve a “lost
soul”, an ikaro manchari (Shipibo ratetaki iká) can be performed.
Love magic can be applied by singing warmikara (Sh. nexati). For
defensive actions, in order to protect oneself or a client from at-
tacks by enemy médicos, songs called arkana (Sh. paanati) can
be sung. Sorcery can finally be achieved by performing shitana
songs (Sh. yotoai or boman)9.
In order to analyze the ontological status of a “song”, we first
have to take a look at the Shipibo understanding of what a “song”
is, as compared to “singing”. It appears that the traditional Euro-
pean ideas of “singing” as an ability and “the song” as (a part of)
knowledge cannot be found in deeper analysis of Shipibo con-
cepts10.
“Singing” (as an activity) cannot be translated exactly into Ship-
ibo language. Usually, the following terms are applied: bewati,iti,
and bewá onanti. The most adequate term for “singing” seems to
be bewati, literally meaning “to do bewá”, “to do song”. This verb
is related to the noun bewá, which however denotes a certain kind
of song. Thus, it excludes for example “singing mashá-type songs”,
La música y los pueblos indígenas
9In the present paper I give four examples performed by two closely related
Shipibo singers. An intercultural comparison of seven performances of the same
ikaro form was undertaken elsewhere (Brabec de Mori 2011). There it appears
that the similarities and differences in performance between different indigenous
groups do not differ significantly from the similarities and differences observed
here in the two brothers’ performances.
10 For the terms mentioned in the following paragraph, the dictionary by Loriot
et al. (1993) indicates: p. 108: “behuá s. behuacan 1: canción […] 2: himno 3:
música […] béhuati v. i. behuaa: cantar”; p. 251: “masháiti v. i. masháica: hacer
una marcha típica acompañada de una ronda”; p. 207: “iti v. i. icá 1: ser: estar
[without reference to singing]”; p. 301-302: “onánti v.t. onana 1: saber: entender
[…] 2: conocer […] 3: aprender”; p. 97: “átipanti v.i. y v.t. átipana del quech.
atipay, atipan poder: poder”. One can see that the ILV’s missionaries who edited
this dictionary did not spend much energy in contextualizing these terms. They
translated them in a way favourable for their purposes, thus equating the in-
digenous and European concepts. The ILV had most influence on the Spanish
discourse among Shipibo people because of their monopoly on educación bi-
lingüe (cf. Illius 1999: 63-66). Usually, translation problems occur, when Shipibo
médicos talk in Spanish about their apprenticeship and the origins of their
“songs” using the terms as introduced by the ILV. I could understand these con-
cepts only when the médicos talked to me in their own language which I had
then learned.
80

which consequently is expressed with masháiti, “to do mashá”. In
native discourse, bewati (or masháiti or ikarai) is seldom used but
usually substituted with iti, a modal verb for intransitive processes,
such as “to be” or “to do” (depends on context). “I am going to
be/stay over there” and “I am going to sing over there” are both
expressed correctly with eara oa ibanon. Another possible way to
translate “singing” (as an ability) is bewá onanti. This is usually
employed in contexts like saying “she or he has learned singing,”
janra bewá onanke,although it literally means “she or he knows
a set of bewá-type songs”. Finally, “she or he can sing” can be ex-
pressed with janra bewai atipanke, but this means literally “she or
he is now able or willing to sing a bewá-type song”. Therefore,
“singing” in Shipibo etymology is neither defined as the process of
producing a song nor as an ability. It signifies the knowledge of a
set of songs. “Singing” is knowledge, not an ability. Consequently,
“the song” (bewá, mashá, ikaro) is understood by Shipibo not as
an abstract piece of repertoire. It signifies the one and only mani-
festation of “singing”, that is a current and actual performance.
Acquiring Curing Songs
Bearing in mind these terminological issues it becomes clear that
an investigation of transmission concepts cannot be easily under-
taken by asking some questions in Spanish. Unlike drinking songs
or love songs, for example, curing songs are not only learned by
listening and singing along at parties or with grandparents. Médicos
usually mention two processes of learning: most singers explain
that they learned singing (along with other medical techniques)
from a teacher, say, their father, uncle, etc.11, that is, by oral and
aural tradition. They tell that they accompanied the teachers during
their curing practice, and when songs were involved, they sang
along in unison, thus internalizing the teachers’ song repertoire.
“The Inka’s Song Emanates from my Tongue”: Learning and Performing Shipibo Curing Songs
81
11 I use masculine terms with respect to the médicos because about 92 % of
practitioners are males: 47 men and 4 women who practice or have practiced
as médicos appear in my field recordings. Women embark on equally important
duties in medical contexts, but are almost never involved in the role of a médica
as described in the present survey. However, female practice of ayawaska drink-
ing and corresponding singing is growing in modern Shipibo society (see Brabec
de Mori 2014).

Some médicos also declare that they were self-taught, that they
learned their art without guidance by any human teacher. However,
often in the same instant, most médicos categorically present a sec-
ond transmission concept: They insist that they received the songs
from spiritual beings, in particular from plants’ animating forces
(the “mothers”, madres of plants or plant people). Mostly this trans-
mission takes place in dreams or provoked visionary experience.
When performing, so they tell, they perceive these beings who are
also singing, and the médicos imitate their music.
This seemingly paradoxical observation is well known among
Amazonian and South American people. Practitioners of indigenous
medicine or sorcery often refer to certain spiritual or mythological
entities as their teachers or sources of knowledge and power; see
for example Schaffler (2009: 289-293) for servidores in the Domini-
can Republic or Olsen (1996: 197) for the Warao bahanarotu). This
phenomenon is usually viewed as a legitimation strategy. Wörrle
investigates this strategy in the Ecuadorian highlands and concludes
that the healers use cultural prefabricates (“kulturelle Fertigteile”,
Wörrle 2002: 101) to legitimate their knowledge to their patients
and peers, because it seems that it is not sufficient to have learned
the techniques from human teachers. This is a common and pos-
sibly valid explanation for such paradoxical views on learning.
However, in my point of view, it can be promising to consider such
transmission concepts more literally, because further insights into
indigenous concepts of learning and performing as well as the role
of the teaching entities could be gained by this. Learning to sing is
a process embedded in a cosmos which allows bodily transforma-
tions as well as active consciousness among and social relation-
ships with non-human agents. I suggest that singing not only
reproduces and explains this cosmos for the listeners, but also
takes part in recreating and shaping this cosmos through “correct”
(jakon) performance.
In most of the cases, Western Amazonian médicos undergo some
years of training defined by “diets” (dietas, samá). Such a diet con-
sists of long retreats into the forest or in closed houses. Therefore,
the médico-to-be intentionally gets in contact with non-humans,
mainly by ingesting extracts. Usually vegetal preparations serve this
La música y los pueblos indígenas
82

purpose, but sometimes also substances obtained from animals or
artificial products like perfumes are used. With the proper prepa-
ration ingested, he has to obey certain dietary restrictions for a
while – weeks, months, or years – depending on the length he
must “diet”, which is determined by the chosen preparation, the
family tradition, and his purpose12.
The apprentice, for his “vegetal way of life” during the diet, is
expected to dream, have visions in waking hours, and to hear, see
or feel some presence of or messages from the beings around
him13. The student shall learn to perceive the world from a different
point of view. Indigenous perspectivism (Viveiros de Castro 1997)
indicates that animal or plant species and geographic entities are
regarded to perceive themselves as humans with human conscious-
ness. Human beings like us, in their perception, may appear either
as their predators, their prey, or something more neutral. The ap-
prentice has to deal, for example, with the ingested plant’s animat-
ing forces. In the regional Spanish language, the term “mother” is
used to refer to these forces, for example la madre del toé (the
Brugmansia’s mother). The word jonibo (persons, people) used in
Shipibo language underlines more precisely that these non-
humans, within their perception, understand themselves as per-
sons, like the kanachiari jonibo (Brugmansia people). During his
diet, the student contacts these people. Within his dreams or vi-
sions, he is being transformed into one of them, in order to learn
their techniques and songs from within their point of view. He
learns how they behave, how they perceive the world, how they
perceive other people (especially humans like us), how they are
able to manipulate people and finally how they sing. After accom-
plishing his dieting period, he is supposed to be able to recognize
“The Inka’s Song Emanates from my Tongue”: Learning and Performing Shipibo Curing Songs
83
12 The complex around the diet has been described to some extent in almost
every publication about Western Amazonian peoples, for instance see Illius
(1987), Tournon (2002) or LeClerc (2003) on the Shipibo-Konibo, Luna (1986)
on the mestizo population, Frank (1994) on the Kakataibo, among others. Al-
though with different peoples, groups, families and individuals many particu-
larities can be observed, the fact of application, the durations, the overall
modalities as well as expected results are fairly constant in the Peruvian low-
lands.
13 Among the Shipibo, ayawaska or other psychoactive substances are usually
not ingested during a diet.

and contact these jonibo at will. In fact, he applies an “anthropo-
logical” method: he conducts fieldwork with participant observa-
tion (e.g., among the xooná jonibo, the Ficus people).
One can distinguish different sources of knowledge, or different
teaching instances, as perceived by Shipibo médicos: Plants and
the plant jonibo are most often used and contacted for didactic rea-
sons. However, the plant jonibo may also provide contact with
other beings. The term yoshin (demon, spirit) generally denotes
beings that do not manifest directly within the daily human per-
spective, for instance forest ogres, carriers of certain diseases, and
underwater or cloud inhabitants. Yoshin is understood more neg-
atively, which may be due to missionary influence. The animating
forces of animals and inanimate beings like rivers or mountains
may be addressed with both jonibo or yoshin, depending on the
individual. Also inanimate instances may be contacted, even arti-
facts, as one can “diet” gasolina, “diet black magic books” or even
“diet the bible”. However, the main source of knowledge is still
accessed via plant “dieting”.
A médico may also study among other human beings. Médicos
sometimes visit neighboring or more distant societies for extensive
spans of time. There they live and work among these different in-
digenous or mestizo people, learning with and from them in a way
very similar to “dieting” plants. Very prominent sources of knowl-
edge are legendary human beings who, as my research associates
indicated, did not join the common human surroundings, but
choose to live on their own in distant past14. Among these are the
chaikoni jonibo, people who share the lifestyle that today’s Shipibo
attribute to their forefathers, a highly ideologized, “correct” indige-
nous behavior (cf. Illius 1987: 133-135). The inka also pertain to
this faction, as they are not thought as related to any living
Quechua-speaking population. They represent the pre-Columbian
Quechua elite who, as Shipibo understand it, retired to remote
places to hide from the invading Spaniards and waiting for their
La música y los pueblos indígenas
14 The phenomenon of people once living together with humans and then, dur-
ing the course of history, retiring into “magically protected” lands can be ob-
served in many societies and was called “the Fairy Syndrome” by Evelyne
Puchegger-Ebner; personal communication, 2007; see also Brabec de Mori (forth-
coming).
84

time to fulfill the reconquista15. Both chaikoni and inka are re-
garded very powerful médicos. There are certain plants one may
“diet” to gain contact with these legendary humans. The inka are
understood as especially highly “civilized” people who maintain a
complete medical system with hospitals, doctors and pharmacies
within their hideouts. In many Shipibo songs, these inka jonibo are
frequently mentioned as indicators of intraethnic correctness. Their
leader, who is referred to as “the inka” is regarded a cultural hero
and is sometimes also mentioned synonymous with the Christian
God. Non rios inka, “our God Inka” is commonly mentioned in nos-
talgic songs as the one who taught cultural values long time ago.
When a Shipibo singer describes a village and its surroundings
with sung verses like inkan mai masenen, “on the Inka’s land”, a
close relationship between Shipibo and legendary inka is indi-
cated. In song, even Shipibo people themselves may be compared
to inka, for example, inkan koros ponyaman literally means “inka’s
cross arms”, and is understood metaphorically as a strong Shipibo
man who embraces a woman16. One can derive from such poetic
metaphors that the inka indicate intraculturally relevant behavior
and can be used synonymously with correctly behaving Shipibo
people. Many Shipibo individuals interpret their “nation” being de-
scendant of the inka17. However, in the context of curing song ap-
prenticeship, the inka jonibo are understood to live in their own
world aspect (perspective, kano)and resemble a high reputation
as instances of power and knowledge.
When I use the term “perspective” to denote the topological po-
sition of non-humans (like the plant jonibo or the legendary inka),
I do so because there are clear connections to be drawn. Viveiros
“The Inka’s Song Emanates from my Tongue”: Learning and Performing Shipibo Curing Songs
85
15 Throughout Western Amazonia, the inka is regarded a cultural hero in most
indigenous groups’ historic understanding. See for example Weiss (1975) on the
Asháninka (Campa), Illius (1987, 1999) on the Shipibo-Konibo, Frank (1994) on
the Kakataibo (Uni), among others. The topic of an forthcoming reconquista,
triggered by inkas issuing forth from their hideouts is also common among tupí-
speaking populations (Ochoa Abaurre 2002).
16 These lines are taken from my recordings, archived under files D 5427, D
5230 and D 5334 at the Vienna Phonogrammarchiv.
17 This is most obvious in the well known story about the Shipibo diluvio, trans-
lated for example in Roe (1982: 49-50) or Bertrand-Ricoveri (2010), and also ap-
pearing in my recordings D 5461 and D 5549.

de Castro formulated the concepts of perspectivism and multinat-
uralism in Portuguese, in a European language. Rather surprisingly,
Shipibo language also knows two terms to explain these concepts:
the more technically oriented kano, which I translate with “per-
spective” and the ontological niwe, which I translate as “multi-na-
ture”. Kano is a prominent word in Shipibo curing songs. It is
commonly circumscribed by Shipibo médicos as the “way” (bai),
the “light” (nete), or the “air around” or “atmosphere” (niwe) which
is constructed or reconstructed by the médicos during curing ses-
sions. It denotes the perception and acting space, a world aspect,
a landscape inhabited by humans, demons, animals, plants, moun-
tains, angels, or other entities. Kano denotes a technical aspect;
this is the medium the medico is working in and working with.
The term kano can be used as a noun as well as an intransitive
(kanoai) or transitive verb (kanotai). If the singer is creating a way,
a world or a landscape to visualize or to put things into order, he
does kanoai. If an entity is disturbing or influencing the patient or
the singer (as for trying to get “attached”, naikia), this entity does
kanotai. The danger of getting “attached” to a demon (yoshin) is
constituted by a process of transgression: the yoshin forces the pa-
tient into its own world aspect (niwe), transforming the patient into
a yoshin, and thus causing illness, madness or death (cf. Lima 1999:
123-4).
The other prominent term is niwe, which denotes the ontolog-
ical aspect of perspectivism, the respective “nature”. Usually trans-
lated as “wind”, “air”, “aura”, or “individual essence” (Illius 1992:
63), it bears a manifold significance. Illius analyzes the aspects of
niwe in different contexts, especially in curing, where it can be
viewed as a medium of influence carried by powerful beings. The
manifestation of kanotai (when a malevolent entity has been get-
ting “attached” to a person) can be perceived when the patient’s
niwe shows certain qualities of the involved entity (Illius 1992: 67-
70). This influence can be removed with specific techniques in-
cluding certain songs (Illius 1992: 71-5). However, niwe is also used
to describe the ontological sphere around any being. The “nature”
around the xooná jonibo, for example, their surroundings as per-
ceived by themselves within their perspective, can be called their
niwe (xooná niwe).
La música y los pueblos indígenas
86

In a group discussion18, three Shipibo singers explained the
structure of the world in terms highly congruent with Viveiros de
Castro’s multinaturalism and perspectivism (without any sugges-
tions from myself). They tried to make clear that every species of
plants, animals, and spirits resides in an own world aspect. They
stated that these were not different worlds (netema riki). The ap-
propriate term in Shipibo was niwe. There is a niwe wherein the
respective peoples and spirits dwell, like on their own “planet”
(planeta, which they correspondingly derive as a synonym for niwe
and which they do not understand astronomically).
An apprentice who has finally completed subsequent diets (and
therefore is acknowledged as a médico by his peers) is considered
to be able to “switch” perspectives at will. In his songs, he can
summon the corresponding entities, enter into their niwe (nature,
surroundings) and thus transform into one of them intentionally.
He then perceives the world from within these entities’ kano (per-
spective). When performing a curing song for a patient, a médico
sings in a doubled perspective, thus manipulating his own subject
positionality. Within, for example, the inka’s perspective (inkan
kanon) he sings along with the inka people (which only he is able
to see and hear). According to many médicos, the inka’s song, as
perceived within the inkas’ kano, “sounds” more beautiful than
any human song. Anyway, the entities’ song “sounds” different than
the song the médico performs simultaneously in the human per-
spective. Within this human perspective, he can be seen and heard
by others, and appears as the singing médico,attending his patient.
The song appears as a “bodily-exterior manifestation of [...] knowl-
edge and power” (Gow 2001: 144). This parallel concept of song
performance (among the Yine) is explained in detail by Gow
(2001: 144-52)19.
“The Inka’s Song Emanates from my Tongue”: Learning and Performing Shipibo Curing Songs
87
18 Recorded interview D 5576.
19 Parallelisms are considered beautiful in Shipibo aesthetics and poetics, as was
shown by Illius (1999: 161). Shipibo singing médicos consider themselves par-
allel beings, partly human and partly non-human, who simultaneously exist in
two landscapes while performing their curing sessions. The songs they produce
are considered human songs and non-human music at the same time. Most
médicos are healing specialists who also might inflict disorders by the same
means.

Alternative Ways of Acquiring Songs
It may happen that the Shipibo singer, while performing a curing
song, is thrown out of his proper perspective by malevolent forces,
most likely by enemy médicos20. It frequently occurs during curing
sessions that the singer is attacked and he may defend himself with
corresponding songs (arkana or paanati). In fact, médicos in the
Wester n Amazon are always attacked by other médicos with malev-
olent intentions, and the curing médico himself is never the aggres-
sor. Here we can see another important and qualifying aspect
depending on the chosen position of the subject between various
médicos and patients. While curing sorcery, despite one’s purpose
of healing, one will involuntarily be positioned as “aggressor” when
redirecting the inflicted damage (daño). If the aggressor is more
powerful than the defending médico, who therefore is unable to
repel the attack, the defending médico will stop singing, his voice
dying down to humming, whispering or whistling before it ends.
This is considered to be very dangerous. In the worst case the
enemy may capture the médico’s song. This actually is the worst
case, because being deprived of “his song”, the medico will fall ill,
cannot defend himself against other aggressors and sooner or later
will die if he is not cured by a peer. In the case of being cured, the
médico in charge of healing him then retrieves his song, by the
means of another battle. The non-human entities contacted by the
médicos are not expected to actively take on one’s side or an-
other’s. They are regarded amoral beings, who do not care about
struggles, misunderstandings and reciprocal violence among
human médicos.
Consequently, the defending médico, if unsuccessful, is deprived
of his song. Probably he still remembers a certain corpus of musical
structures he has learned from his father, for example. Although
he can still sing these songs, he is no longer able to perform prop-
erly. He is no longer able to contact and imitate the corresponding
La música y los pueblos indígenas
20 The médicos are engaged in a permanent micro-war among themselves. This
struggle is an implicit phenomenon in Amazonian curing and appears in differ-
ent manifestations in various cultural settings; see the volume edited by White-
head and Wright (2004). This phenomenon can be seen as a (fairly violent)
regulatory mechanism in order to maintain an equilibrium of power in a society
based on reciprocity of alimentation, sexuality and, of course, violence.
88

non-human entities anymore in order to “charge his song” with
meaning and power.
Now the victorious enemy has obtained the ability to contact
these particular entities. The capturer, in turn, may perform the
musical forms which he had learned from his teacher, within his
“school” or tradition. But now the capturer is able to “charge” his
performances with the captured meaning and power, singing in a
style similar to that of his victim. It is often mentioned by médicos
that they can detect an evil sorcerer (which depends on the point
of view) because he does not sing his “own” songs, but seems to
“imitate” the songs of other médicos.
“The song”, in this definition as an ability to contact certain al-
lies, is understood by Shipibo and other Western Amazonian soci-
eties as if it were an “organ” of the médico’s body. Beside “his
song”, a powerful médico may also have an “organ” for storing
magical darts (virote, yobé) within his chest, which is called mariri
in Quechua, and kenyon in Shipibo (see Brown 2006, Chaumeil
1998 for the high importance of dart warfare in the northern Peru-
vian and Ecuadorian rainforests). Such organs are acquired through
diets, and people who do not accomplish the corresponding diets
do not have such organs at their disposal. These organs are sus-
ceptible to illness, much like a liver or stomach. Any médico can
suffer from “a distortion of my song” (Mi canto está torcido) or
from “a dislocation of my darts” (Mis virote no estan en su sitio).
Such disorders may be cured by diets, but if they are caused by a
competing médico’s attack, the problem should be brought before
a sympathizing or related médico in order to be cured.
This leads to yet another method of acquiring such organs (like
songs or mariri). A teacher, usually old, tired or aware of ap-
proaching his end, may surrender these organs voluntarily to his
apprentice or a related peer. The organ, that is the ability to sing
properly, is then held by the apprentice, and the teacher who gave
it up, lost it for good. We can see that among the Shipibo, knowl-
edge and power, as manifested in the ability to sing proper curing
songs, can be acquired, but also lost, much like an object.
“The Inka’s Song Emanates from my Tongue”: Learning and Performing Shipibo Curing Songs
89

Example Songs and Musical Analysis
During my fieldwork with the Shipibo, I recorded 57 curing ses-
sions, along with dozens curing songs sung in a simulative setting,
and I attended many curing sessions without making recordings.
It became obvious to me, after analyzing these songs and experi-
ences, that many médicos were singing in very similar ways. Some
of them apparently sang the same songs as others, often even with
similar lyrics. I was able to verify this assumption by transcribing
and comparing various performances of curing songs. Especially
the ikaro category caught my eye, because the comparison of my
transcriptions reveal that only a few different structural patterns
exist within this category, which are performed by Shipibo, but
also by Yine, Kukama, Naporuna and mestizo médicos.
The remainder of this article is devoted to the analysis of four
ikaro performances, sung by the Shipibo médicos and brothers
Gilberto and Benjamín Mahua and recorded on different occasions.
The singers told me that they both had learned singing from their
father and their two older brothers, who were also médicos. Among
the Shipibo, family tradition is one of the vital factors for becoming
a médico, as seen by their learning processes.
I transcribed the pieces in common five-line staff notation, be-
cause my purpose is to show and compare the melodic progress
in the four examples. I refrain from the use of extended diacritics,
because any notation would be insufficient to describe the whole
performance in satisfying accuracy. On the contrary, I will try to
gain advantage of this discrepancy to underline the differences that
emerge from analyzing the transcription and the performance.
The first two examples, presented here as figures 1 and 2, were
performed for the purpose of soul retrieval, known as manchari.
Figures 3 and 4, on the other hand, refer to songs performed for
love magic, known as warmikara. Each song is fairly long, between
six and twenty minutes. The present transcriptions show only one
sequence which is repeated various times to form the entire song.
These repetitions usually reveal minor variations in phrasing and
thereafter in the length of each sequence. The lyrics are different in
each sequence, although references to lines which were already
sung, as well as repeated phrases and parallelisms, often occur.
La música y los pueblos indígenas
90

First I would like to point out some similarities between these
examples21. To facilitate comparison, I have marked several
processes alphabetically. As I remark in the following sentences,
each process appears in all the examples:
1) Process A marks the sequences’ introductory phrases, with
higher pitch than the rest, usually repeated, and after four or five
beats presenting a very salient interval of a rising third.
2) Process B indicates a rapidly descending line from high (A)
to low pitch (C). The process includes one to three text phrases
and descends by 15, 17 or 19 semitones.
3) Process C is characterized by a series of phrases sung in very
low pitch, connecting B with D.
4) Process D marks a secondary melodic-dynamic peak that
mostly shows structural similarities with A and B in a short and
less intense way. D may repeatedly appear during E, usually be-
coming less salient towards the end.
5) Process E marks a melodic-dynamic flattening out towards
the sequences’ ending.
Fig. 1: The manchari song by Gilberto, 2006. Transcription by the author,
recording archived at the Vienna Phonogrammarchiv (D 5569).
“The Inka’s Song Emanates from my Tongue”: Learning and Performing Shipibo Curing Songs
91
21 Within the musical corpus I recorded in the field, three different forms of
ikaro appear to be in use. The examples shown here stem from the same form,
which is most often applied. This ikaro form has been in use for at least 45
years, because Lucas (1970) presents a transcription of a “doctor’s song”,
recorded by Donald Lathrap in 1964, revealing a congruent melodic line at ex-
actly the same pitch as our fourth example. Lucas comments “Both Shipibo and
Conibo medicine men use the song, however, and both men and women use
it. Each medicine man or woman uses his own words, but all the words are
generally alike” (Lucas 1970: 160).

Fig. 2: The manchari song by Benjamin, 2004. Transcription by the author,
recording archived at the Vienna Phonogrammarchiv (D 5253).
Fig. 3: The warmikara song by Gilberto, 2006. Transcription by the author,
recording archived at the Vienna Phonogrammarchiv (D 5590).
La música y los pueblos indígenas
92

Fig. 4: The warmikara song by Benjamín, 2006. Transcription by the author,
recording archived at the Vienna Phonogrammarchiv (D 5579)
Despite these similarities in the melodic progress, there are im-
portant differences between the four examples: first, the pitch is
different. The interpretations start at a, e1, e and a1respectively
and, for comparison, the melodic peak in process A lies at c1, g1,
e1and f2. Second, the tempi at 108, 150 and 90 bpm are fairly dif-
ferent. Third, there are some rhythmic differences. Both manchari
performances are almost constantly sung in a four-beat phrase
structure. Gilberto’s warmikara introduces also some five-beat
phrases and Benjamín’s warmikara is altogether based upon five-
beat phrases. Both warmikara performances apply dotted notes,
which do not appear in the manchari.
The differences, some of which cannot be read from the tran-
scriptions, however, appear to be more important. These differ-
ences emerge from the context, say, the purpose of singing for
each example, and some performance modalities which cannot be
shown in the figures. The first manchari, sung by Gilberto [Fig. 1],
was performed for the purpose of curing a baby who had suffered
raté (shock), etiologically understood as the loss of a part of her
soul22. Gilberto performed in a hollow and low voice, in slight stac-
cato phrasing, gradually accelerating the tempo during the per-
formance.
“The Inka’s Song Emanates from my Tongue”: Learning and Performing Shipibo Curing Songs
93
22 Shock (Spanish susto) as an etiology for disorder is very common all over
South America.

The second manchari, sung by Benjamín [Fig. 2], was also per-
formed etiologically for the purpose of retrieving a soul, although
it was addressed to an adult woman, who had been bewitched by
a malign médico. As an effect of this bewitchment, parts of her
personality had been captured by demons (yoshin), in particular
by pink river dolphins (koshoshka, Sotalia pallida). The singer per-
formed the song in very high tempo, with intense nasalization, and
applying falsetto voice during higher-pitched passages.
The third example, a warmikara sung by Gilberto [Fig. 3], was
performed to provide good luck to a male patient, in particular to
enhance his attractiveness towards other people, especially
women. His singing style suggested movement, as if thought for
dancing along. His phrasing (marked by dotted notes in the tran-
scription) along with his relatively slow but steady meter, provided
a feeling of solemnity to the performance. Also, he altered the
melodic line, especially in process A. “Rounding off” a melodic line
by inserting smaller intervals and applying legatos, for example, is
very common in love magic songs, as can also be observed with
the next example.
The other warmikara song [Fig. 4] was again performed by Ben-
jamín. His male patient had been left by his wife, who abandoned
him and their five children. Benjamín found out that the woman
had been the victim of sorcery, and with this song, Benjamín tried
to re-connect her feelings (shinan) to her husband. Therefore, he
summoned a set of colorful birds, which are considered messen-
gers for lovers. Benjamín’s style is characterized by an extremely
high-pitched falsetto with little nasalization, and slow tempo. Alike
Gilberto in the preceding example, he also altered the melodic line
by applying many legatos and glissandos.
As one can read from these descriptions, the singing style, in-
cluding timbre, voice modulation, pronunciation, and certain
changes in phrasing differ in all the examples. These stylistic as-
pects cause all of the above four examples (transcribed in Fig. 1-
4) to sound extremely different when listened to. For me, it took a
long time while recording, listening, consulting with singers and
transcribing, to recognize that melodically, these four examples are
based upon the same ikaro form. However, despite the similarity
La música y los pueblos indígenas
94

of the melodic structure (or the structuring material for the ikaro
form) in all four examples, the resulting sound in the actual per-
formance is very different, effected by changing pitch, phrasing,
tempo and timbre.
Lyrics and Meaning
Each curing song has its lyrics. Kichwa, mestizo and Kukama
médicos often include a minimum of texts in their songs, applying
vocables to form the lines, like “nana-nay-na-nay-nana”23. Shipibo
curing songs, however, have meaningful, well pronounced phrases
throughout. For most curing purposes, there are basic phrases and
terms in use which may be sung in very similar succession by dif-
ferent médicos. These basic or standard phrases are learned and
internalized by singing along or listening to a teacher or another
médico.
In the transcribed sequence of Gilberto’s soul retrieval manchari
(Fig. 1), most texts are based upon such basic phrases. He de-
scribed that the child suffered her shock (bakebira rateta) in the
cold beneath the earth (mai matsi meranki, indicating that a dead
person caused the shock), that she fell down because of this (raté
rebon paketa) and that the singer will get her out of there (jainoax
pikoxon).
When performing for the purpose of curing, the singer will be
exposed to perceptions from within the summoned entities’ kano,
that is, from within their perspective. Applying what the singer
learned during his diets, he is able to manipulate his position be-
tween the patient and the illnesses’ cause. Therefore, the singer is
supposed to have access to distinct sources of knowledge. His per-
ceptions are not shared with the patients or listeners. Most médicos
report that usually, the entities sing or play music within their kano.
With their song, they transport a certain meaning to the médico.
The médico then translates this meaning into human language in
his song’s lyrics. Benjamín’s soul retrieval manchari (Fig. 2) pro-
“The Inka’s Song Emanates from my Tongue”: Learning and Performing Shipibo Curing Songs
95
23 Bustos (2008: 225) indicates that such syllables “involved the intention of call-
ing and invoking the spirits that bring the medicine into the ceremony, and to
invite them to a ritual dance in the place”.

vides a good example of this: his female patient did not tell the
médico about the bewitchment she had suffered. In his song’s
words, Benjamín explained many things about the content of a cer-
tain dream the woman repeatedly had years ago. Listening to the
recording, the patient confirmed that her memories of these dreams
were congruent to the details mentioned by Benjamín. In the fol-
lowing song text excerpt, it becomes clear how the singer verbal-
izes his current perceptions:
Line
Shipibo text English translation (by the author)
1 wetsatian namata (2x) [You] sometimes dreamt,
2ani jeman kanonka(ri) (3x)[that you found yourself within]
a big city kano,
3 yoshin wirakochabo where whiteman-demons [dwelled].
4min namataibokan [That is what] your dreams are like:
5waporobo bechoa great steamboats floating,
6 motoronin niai driven by their motor’s power,
7kanoabotibi [dominated] all the kano.
8 ja riki koshoshka (2x) These are the [pink] river dolphins,
9 bechon rawinonabotani interlacing [like the river’s] waves,
10 rawinonabotani splashing into each other,
11 kanokanobotanara intertwining their kano.
12 jawen xenibiyosi The dolphin’s disgusting fat
13 asaitiyontaanan [was] converted into oil. Then
14 yoshin noyaibokan (2x) the demons take off flying,
15 see iki mayata a whirling multitude, causing tingling,
16 rawinonabotana they pass by each other,
17 kanoa kanoran [like weaving] their kano.
18 chorochorobainkin we go on, loosening [their] ties,
19 pishapishabainkinronki we go on, detaching [them],
so it is told.
Only the last two phrases (lines 18-19) of the above translitera-
tion fit into standard, basic text lines. The rest (and a large part of
the entire song) is based upon the singing médico’s current obser-
vations. He verbalizes the woman’s dream memories and puts them
into order. With his task of verbalization, the dream obtains a cul-
La música y los pueblos indígenas
96

turally determined significance. In this case the singer first explains
that the “white man/pink dolphin-people” had been summoned to
harm the poor woman (lines 3-8)24. Then he mentions the dolphins’
fat (lines 12-13) which was applied in order to bewitch. Many dol-
phins fly (underwater!) and whirl around, causing a specific tingling
in the patient’s extremities, a symptom interpreted as typical for this
kind of bewitchment (line 15). The whole passage describes that
the dolphin-demons koshoshka yoshinbo are “attaching” (naikiai)
their kano to the patient’s kano, intertwining them, and advancing
into the patient’s body (lines 11 and 17). With the last two phrases
(lines 18-19), the singer utters his most important statement that de-
spite the yoshin’s advances, he will “detach” them again. Thereby
he uses plural forms (indicated by the suffix -kin-) which refer to
him together with his spiritual allies. He also applies the narrative
marker -ronki (“so it is told”) to suggest a “historical inevitability”
(Illius 1999: 246) of his treatment. Benjamín, with his lyrics, tells
that his patient was repeatedly dreaming that she would find herself
within the dolphin’s nature, their niwe, where the dolphins them-
selves appear as humans driving motorboats and steam vessels. The
dolphin-people interwove their kano with the patient’s kano, so
that the woman would appear to the healer as affected by the dol-
phin’s niwe (cf. Illius 1992: 69). In this case, a malevolent man had
smeared dolphin’s oil on the woman’s body, such initiating the dol-
phin’s activity (kanotai) to transform the woman into one of them.
Benjamín’s song was aimed at eliminating this influence, at detach-
ing the woman’s body from the dolphin’s niwe.
The lyrics in the transcribed sequences (Fig. 3 and 4) of the love
magic (warmikara) performances are closer to standard phrases.
They describe beautiful things: Gilberto mentions a love magnet
(noi iman), a blossoming flower of love (noi joa toeta), and a love-
“The Inka’s Song Emanates from my Tongue”: Learning and Performing Shipibo Curing Songs
97
24 Wirakocha is a reinterpretation of an Inca deity. Shipibo-Konibo today use
the term to denote white people, especially those well dressed and with lots of
money, power and servants (patrones, funcionarios). The koshoshka is the pink
river dolphin, considered a very dangerous animal that may seduce women and
drive them mad. River dolphins appear in their kano as white people in elegant,
plain clothes. In that case, wirakocha refers to the koshoshka themselves in their
human appearance. These references are used in this song to explain why the
woman had repeatedly dreamt of being surrounded and persecuted by elegantly
dressed white people.

flower-crown (noi joa maiti). He calls upon a plant entity, noi
waste (Cyperus sp.), which is commonly used as love remedy by
Shipibo people. Likewise, Benjamín invokes the yellow and blue
macaw bird (Ara Ararauna), anthropomorph as a golden woman
(kana oro ainbaonra) because of the bird’s gleaming breast (jawen
noi peneki). These items are being applied, “attached” to the pa-
tients to increase their attractiveness. Here we encounter a more
positive, controlled interpretation of “attaching”, due to the médi-
cos’ intentions.
The Performance
Finally, I will treat the interaction between the received structures
of sound and the positionality adopted by the médico in the mo-
ment of its iteration. Rethinking the modalities of acquiring curing
songs as shown above within the contexts of an actual performance,
it appears that the seemingly paradoxical explanation of the médicos
does not lack sense. It should be clear by now, that any médico
who learned a certain melodic progress and basic lyrics by singing
along with a teacher, can thereafter perform this melodic and textual
structures in highly individual ways. Comparing various perform-
ances, one can observe that the same melody may sound very dif-
ferent. One médico may change his singing style not only with
different patients, but also within the same curing sessions, some-
times even within one song (e.g. by shifting his voice to falsetto
and singing one octave higher than before). However, the singing
style is highly dependant on the individual and the situation.
Olsen (1996: 159) explains how voice masking is used by Warao
wisiratu healers during the processes of transformation they un-
dergo in curing rituals. In the Western Amazonian context, exem-
plified here by the Mahua brothers, voice masking is also used,
but on a more individual level. Gilberto masks his voice only
slightly or not at all, while his elder brother often changes his tim-
bre and pitch, playing with his impressive vocal range (in my
recordings, four octaves between 48.5 Hz and 771 Hz) and various
articulation instruments like roughness, throat singing, nasalization,
variable onset, and extreme dynamics. Benjamín is regarded rao
tapon (base of the remedy) who transforms into a spiritual being
La música y los pueblos indígenas
98

(yoshinai) during his night-time sessions, manifest through his
changing voice. Benjamín sometimes indicates his transformation
with certain masked sounds, but unlike in Olsen’s examples, Ben-
jamín’s voice masking indicates the transformed state rather than
the process of transforming. Many Shipibo médicos indicated that
when they were in contact with powerful benevolent entities, their
voice would change into high-pitched falsetto, which is the most
common form of voice masking among the Shipibo médicos. In
addition, individual singers dispose of individual styles as was
shown in the examples.
Therefore, we can see that the transmission of melodies and
basic phrases takes place between teachers and students, but the
choice of the singing style and the actual lyrics occurs at the very
moment of the song’s performance. If a médico expresses that, for
example, “the inka people taught me the song” inkabaonra ea
bewá onamake, he does not refer to melodies or words, but to an
actual performance which is – because of his prior accomplished
diets – inspired or even dictated by one or more spiritual inka
jonibo. He perceives and imitates these entities during the curing
session. The performing médico simultaneously exists in his curing
session, surrounded by human audience, and within the kano of
the summoned inka, for example, who likewise surround him.
However, only he is able to see both “landscapes” simultaneously,
or to switch between them at will.
The current performance defines the curing song and it includes:
(i) The patient’s problem which requires a certain entity, for ex-
ample, the inka, to be contacted. (ii) The inka jonibo perform from
within their perspective, and the singer imitates and serves as an
“inka convert”. (iii) From the human perspective the singer per-
forms an – orally transmitted – human song. (iv) This human song
transports the meaning of the inkas’ song in its style and lyrics.
Therefore, the médico may “imitate” the singing entities he encoun-
ters, but not by literally singing along with them, but by masking
his voice to meet the entities’ style. The masked voice is an indi-
cator for transformation. A médico who performs in a masked voice
has entered a non-human niwe and is actually transformed into
one of the corresponding non-human agents.
“The Inka’s Song Emanates from my Tongue”: Learning and Performing Shipibo Curing Songs
99

Consequently, curing songs do not necessarily sound well or
beautiful in Shipibo aesthetic understanding. There are not only
positive entities imitated, but also dangerous ones. In both man-
chari performances, for instance, the singers did neither summon
nor imitate healing spirits but rather the malign forces that caused
the symptoms. Gilberto, with his hollow staccato voice, “mimicked
the shock”: he found out that the baby was in danger because she
had encountered a dead person, and the spirit of the dead (mawa
yoshin) took a part of the child’s personality into its kano, “attach-
ing” the baby to the dead. Thus, Gilberto summoned the dead,
masking the voice of the mawa yoshin. Likewise, Benjamín
“cheated” on the dangerous dolphin people with his masked
singing style, infiltrating their kano, summoning them together and
then – starting a different song – sending them off to their “home”.
Gilberto told me that one has to know the exact name of the causer
of the illness to be able to summon and unfasten it25.
The orally transmitted musical structures and basic lyrics are spon-
taneously co-composed by the singer and his summoned entities, in
every single and unique situation. The entities contribute to the
meaning, thus surpassing the meaning of the basic lyrics. They also
contribute to the curing power which the singer translates into style
and sound. The resulting performance depends on the specific en-
tities he contacts in order to cure an individual patient, facing certain
problems within this curing situation. Within any specific curing ses-
sion, there are many factors determining which musical structure is
chosen by the human médico and in which style the inka jonibo, or
other entities, transport their meaning. We can differentiate, for ex-
ample, the relations the médico has with the entities, the history of
the patient, the patient’s relations to spiritual entities, or if any com-
peting médicos may be involved in the disorder’s etiology (sorcery).
La música y los pueblos indígenas
25 These techniques of “cheating on the spirits” (yoshin paranai) both singers
explained to me in these terms. Illius (1987: 54-61) describes a curing session
involving ayawaska ingestion, where this “cheating” is also elucidated. Olsen
(1996) describes related techniques among the Warao, specifying the naming
and sending off of malevolent forces (see also Olsen 2008: 347, 353). The whole
topic of summoning dead, demons or other malevolent forces also uncover the
ambiguity in Amazonian curing: a médico can use this technique and a specific
song performance for curing the patient, but he could also inflict damage by
the same means.
100

The co-composition of orally transmitted musical structures and
standard lyrics (related to the human médico) combined with tech-
niques of magical manipulation depending on the situation (related
to entities) creates a certain sound, a certain content, a certain at-
mosphere. Exactly this unique result is the proper curing song for
the situation where it is applied. The médico knows in the instant
of performing which choice to take to provide success. If some-
thing during the performance goes wrong, it will fail as a curing
song. This concept of instantly knowing is called “human certainty
principle (HCP)” by Koen (2008: 95): “The HCP is not only impli-
cated when the cause of healing is unknown or mysterious, but
also can be consciously engaged to facilitate healing and the trans-
formation of the self.” Later on, he explains that “the HCP is ex-
ploited in diverse practices of traditional healing, where the
conscious attention and intention of both healer and patient are
directed toward a spiritual or mystical dimension to create a spe-
cific healing effect” (Koen 2008: 95-96). This concept helps to un-
derstand the immanent nature of the actual performance, providing
meaning to both healer and patient, as occurring in a successful
curing session among Shipibo médicos and probably among other
specialists in the Western Amazon who work with curing songs.
Any applied curing song is unique, defined by its unique perform-
ance. A researcher will never have the chance to keep the situation
constant in order to obtain the same (or very similar) interpretation
of the orally transmitted musical structure. A treatment for a person
with a susto (shock, manchari) syndrome will be very different
from any other susto treatment. This is why I have chosen two
manchari (susto) and two warmikara (love magic) songs as ex-
amples in this paper.
Conclusions
In this article, I embarked on an analysis of how curing songs in
the Shipibo lived world are understood, acquired and performed.
Therefore, the modalities of learning such songs and an analysis of
respective Shipibo terminology were presented. Further on, four
excerpts from different curing songs were compared in both their
form – which appeared similar – and their fairly different functions.
“The Inka’s Song Emanates from my Tongue”: Learning and Performing Shipibo Curing Songs
101

Based upon these examples, performance modalities were ex-
plored and the songs were found to be a result of a spontaneous
co-composition process involving both the singer and non-
human entities. A curing song is at the same time based upon
orally transmitted structures and a meaning and/or power which
originated from non-human entities and is transported through
the singer to the human patient via the resulting sound in the
instant of its performance. That is, curing songs are by definition
both orally transmitted and composed spontaneously – if not,
they are just like any song and will not “work”. The efficiency
of the songs, in other words if the performance succeeds or fails,
depends more on function than on form: the musical structure
is learned from teachers, similar to how drinking songs are
learned, for example. The “charging with power” by the means
of contacting non-human agents makes a particular performance
a curing song. This ability can be obtained through diets. It can
also be transmitted from a teacher to an apprentice (with the
teacher thus losing the ability to cure). Finally, it can be captured
by an enemy médico (and the victim again loses the ability to
cure).
Considering the results of both the cultural and the musical
analysis, it appears that the nature of subjectivity itself within Ship-
ibo society (and perhaps that of other Amazonian groups) is inter-
woven with learning and performing music. The parallel concept
of the singers’ presence in two different world aspects and com-
municating with humans and non-humans at the same time helps
to understand how a subject can manipulate his or her own posi-
tion inside a multi-natural cosmos.
The involvement of non-human agents in song transmission and
performance provides further insights into Shipibo conceptualiza-
tions of the cosmos. These ideas can be described in perspectivist
terms according to Viveiros de Castro (1997). By delving more
deeply into the concepts of curing song performance, it appears
not only that perspectivist ideas are present in Shipibo praxis, but
that there even exist fairly exact terms to denote the concepts of
“perspective” (kano) and “multi-nature” (niwe) within Shipibo et-
ymology and topology.
La música y los pueblos indígenas
102

The combination of a cultural and a musical analysis allowed
me to phrase some concepts which were already addressed in prior
publications together with ethnographic data I obtained in my
fieldwork into a more concise picture of subjectivity and inter-sub-
jectivity in the Shipibo lived world. This includes bodily difference
(the songs as organ), transformation (the singer switching perspec-
tives), acquiring and losing power via capturing and surrendering,
and especially contact and communication with non-humans. We
can see that also in Shipibo society, music performance is a con-
stitutive element of reality, (re)creating and manipulating the very
structures of a body, of a social group and of its interconnectedness
with nature and the supernatural. This goes well with the state-
ments by Menezes Bastos (2004) and Seeger (1987) quoted in the
introduction to this article and shows that the importance of singing
in Shipibo society can be compared to its importance among the
“Song People”, as Olsen (1996) denotes the Venezulean Warao.
Finally, I would like to point out that the different positionalities
of the singer are rather signaled via elements of performance than
via formal song categories. With that, I want to show how musical
analysis of live performances together with transcribed texts can
lead to significant insights about the nature of subjectivity and con-
sciousness itself. In the present case, the Shipibo singers intention-
ally alter their mode of perception by ingesting ayawaska and/or
by performing songs in a culturally significant way. In both cases,
they perceive non-humans which they allow a certain control over
their behavior. Although one cannot speak of “possession”, the
singers perceive themselves as being transformed into non-human
beings (and are perceived as such by their peers). It depends on
the situation, which non-human agent is masked by the singer, and
these can be plants, animals or legendary human beings like the
chaikoni jonibo or the culturally highly relevant legendary inka.
Unfortunately, the inka’s song that emanates from a singer’s tongue
can only be perceived as a certain style in the singer’s performance;
the inka’s song, as heard by the médico, will probably never be
recorded, transcribed and compared for further evidence.
“The Inka’s Song Emanates from my Tongue”: Learning and Performing Shipibo Curing Songs
103

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