Burst of Breath

by Hill, Jonathan David; Chaumeil, Jean-pierre

• ISBN13: 9780803220928
• ISBN10: 0803220928
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-12-01
• Publisher: Univ of Nebraska Pr

Summary

The first in-depth, comparative, and interdisciplinary study of indigenous Amazonian musical cultures, Burst of Breathshowcases new research on the dynamic range of ritual power and social significance of various wind instrumentsincluding flutes, trumpets, clarinets, and whistlesplayed in sacred rituals and ceremonies in Lowland South America. The editors provide a detailed overview of the historical significance, scientific classification, shamanic and cosmological associations, and changing social meanings of ritual wind instruments within Amazonian cultures. These essays present a wide perspective that goes beyond better-documented areas such as the Upper Xingu and Northwest Amazon. Some of the authors explore the ways ritual wind instruments are used to introduce natural sounds into social contexts and to cross boundaries between verbal and nonverbal communication. Others look at how ritual wind instruments and their music enter into local definitions and negotiations of relations between men, women, kin, insiders, and outsiders. Closely considering these instruments in their many roles and contextsin curing and purification, negotiating relations, connecting mythic ancestors and humans todaythis volume reveals the power and complexity of the music at the heart of collective rituals across Lowland South America.

Author Biography

Jonathan D. Hill is a professor of anthropology at Southern Illinois University. He is the editor or author of several books, including Made-from-Bone: Trickster Myths, Music, and History from the Amazon. Jean-Pierre Chaumeil is a senior researcher at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (France). He is the author or editor of several books in Spanish and French.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. ix
Overture	p. 1
First Movement: Natural Sounds, Wind Instruments, and Social Communication
Speaking Tubes: The Sonorous Language of Yagua Flutes	p. 49
Leonardo, the Flute: On the Sexual Life of Sacred Flutes among the Xinguano Indians	p. 69
Soundscaping the World: The Cultural Poetics of Power and Meaning in Wakuénai Flute Music	p. 93
Hearing without Seeing: Sacred Flutes as the Medium for an Avowed Secret in Curripaco Masculine Ritual	p. 123
Flutes in the Warime: Musical Voices in the Piaroa World	p. 147
Desire in Music: Soul-Speaking and the Power of Secrecy	p. 171
Second Movement: Musical Transpositions of Social Relations
Archetypal Agents of Affinity: "Sacred" Musical Instruments in the Guianas?	p. 201
From Flutes to Boom Boxes: Musical Symbolism and Change among the Waiwai of Southern Guyana	p. 219
From Musical Poetics to Deep Language: The Ritual of the Wauja Sacred Flutes	p. 239
The Ritual of Iamurikuma and the Kawoká Flutes	p. 257
Spirits, Ritual Staging, and the Transformative Power of Music in the Upper Xingu Region	p. 277
An "Inca" Instrument at a "Nawa" Feast: Marubo Flutes and Alterity in Amazonian Context	p. 301
Arawakan Flute Cults of Lowland South America: The Domestication of Predation and the Production of Agentivity	p. 325
Coda: Historical and Comparative Perspectives
Sacred Musical Instruments in Museums: Are They Sacred?	p. 357
Mystery Instruments	p. 371
Contributors	p. 395
Index	p. 401
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