Song of the Amazon

  “In the ceremony, Ayahuasca connects with you and transmits healing through your icaro (healing song). The medicine guides you— when the energy is more intense, the icaros are also more intense. The icaro allows you to break through the intensity and return to the light.”   ~ Maestro Armando Cerrano   Medicine Chants of…

Animated from paintings of Shipibo artist collective Barin Bababo.Video & Animation by Psicopompo Perro Negro. Translated to English by Song of the Amazon.   In this video, Maestro Curandero (Master Healer) Armando Cerrano Alvarez and Elmer Bima Inuma share knowledge on the Amazonian Shipibo-Konibo worldview.   The Shipibo recognize an inherent spirit and connectedness that…

“Canto de la Maestra” painting by Reshin Bima. “I practice a spiritual life of traditional medicine passed on to me by my grandparents. The ayahuasca is one of our medicinal plants, very sacred, that we use to cure. Our health, within the Shipibo-Konibo is maintained by the healers.” – Maestro Juan Agustin Fernandez   The…

Painting by Reshin Bima, Icaro sung by Maestra Nihue Rama   “During the ceremony, the maestros see the music. The design or “kené” is music. The color and movement (of the designs) is music. To make a kené is like drawing the music.“ – Maestro Armando Cerrano Icaros (from icarai the word in the Quechua…

Nocontari Mashá Iká This beautiful icaro features images of the Shipibo Konibo people in the village of Santa Clara, some in traditional dress. The male poncho type garment is called a tari, made with handmade cloth dyed with plant pigments and often decorated with patterns called kené. Female traditional clothing consists of the chitonti, an…