painting by Reshin Bima
To the Shipibo people of the Peruvian Amazon, the root of all disease lies in the spiritual world. In the Shipibo tradition of ayahuasca ceremony, chanting songs called icaros are sung by the healers in order to cure a person of physical, emotional or mental illness, by addressing the cause of disease on the level of the spirit.
These songs are tools that can be used to remove or apply what is needed to promote healing. During the ayahuasca ceremony, the melody of the icaros and the vocabulary used within them are often individualized based on the person, healing need or situation they are being sung for. These songs serve a wide range of purposes and are for instance, used to invoke spiritual allies and plant teachers and also regulate and manage the visions and effects of ayahuasca being experienced by those taking part in the ceremony.
Icaros can be learned by a healer from their master healer teacher (known in Shipibo as the Onanya), and are also learned directly from the plants and spirits of nature themselves.