Song of the Amazon

“I have painted out of a love for what I am and so that my children will inherit this pride and hold on to what we have and what we are as Shipibo.” – Bahuan Jisbë / Elena Valera

Elena is a Master Healer, embroiderer and well-known visionary painter. Her vast knowledge of Shipibo folklore and culture can be seen in her work, which incorporates traditional Shipibo designs with mythological characters and sacred beings to form a contemporary perspective.

Elena’s visual repertoire consists of aspects of the flora, fauna, daily life, and customs of the Shipibo-Konibo as well as their visions with ayahuasca. Her interest in learning new techniques led her to research and maintain traditional techniques of using natural dyes and earthen pigments to create her work.

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 language which means “to blow”) are powerful chanting songs, which are whistled or sung for healing purposes. The kené designs seen in Shipibo art are an illustration of the underlying energetic patterns that make up the universe and exist within all living beings.

Illnesses can be seen as breaks or holes in this pattern. When in ceremony, the healing power of ayahuasca and other plant medicines is transmitted through the Maestro’s icaro, which is sung to repair broken energetic patterns and restore wholeness.

“Ronin Nima” painting by Reshin Bima.

This painting depicts the energy of the primordial anaconda spirit known as Ronin and the Shipibo word meaning “to lift up” or “invoke” known as Nima. In Shipibo folklore, Ronin is the primordial anaconda who is the mother and guardian of the Rivers and the Rainbow— the cosmic road that links the water to the Sun.

Ronin kené by Reshin Bima

In ceremony, the maestro invokes (nima) Ronin to bring visions to the participants. According to the Shipibo-Konibo worldview, the universe began when Ronin sang the song depicted within the designs of her skin. The serpentine energy of Ronin can be seen expressed in traditional Shipibo kené designs.

Ayahuasca is considered to be a manifestation in plant form of the primordial anaconda Ronin. According to Shipibo belief, in order to see and create the kené designs, you need to consume plants that express the power of the anaconda, especially piripiri and ayahuasca.

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 embroidered wrap skirt and a colorful blusa top.

The Shipibo-Konibo

The Shipibo-Konibo are an indigenous people who live mainly along the Ucayali River and its tributaries in the Amazon rainforest in Perú. Numbering approximately 30,000 the Shipibo-Konibo were formerly two groups, the Shipibo and the Konibo, who eventually became one distinct tribe through intermarriage and communal ritual.

Lifestyle, tradition and diet

The Shipibo-Konibo live in the 21st century while keeping one foot in the past spanning millennia in the Amazonian rainforest. The Shipibo are known for many of the traditions that they still practice, such as ayahuasca shamanism and their artisanal skills such as textile making, embroidery and pottery.

Shipibo-Konibo women are the primary makers of beadwork and textiles, but are probably best known for their pottery, decorated with maze-like geometric patterns called kené. While these ceramics were traditionally made for use in the home, an expanding tourist market has provided many households with extra income through the sale of pots and other craft items.

The intricate designs found in Shipibo handicrafts represent their own spiritual visions and are not figurative, but lineal, like an intent to trace the infinity hidden in the leaves of the trees, the ripples in the water, and the patterns and constellations of the sky.

Shipibo art does not represent nature but is rather a form of communicating with their environment and particularly with the spirits of the plants, rivers, trees and animals. And so each piece of handcrafted work represents an open dialog with the jungle; a universal dialog where man does not simply lay down the rules, but lives in communion with the jungle itself. Everything is possible in this magical world where the passage of time is calculated according to the rise of the river or the blooming of the flowers.

Some of the urbanized people live around Pucallpa in the Yarina Cocha, an extensive indigenous zone. Most others live in scattered villages over a large area of jungle forest extending from Brazil to Ecuador.

The traditional Shipibo diet consist of river fish, yucca and fruits. Now however, the situation in some areas has deteriorated due to global weather changes limiting the diet to yucca and fish.

Due to drought followed by flooding, many mature fruit trees have died, and some of the banana trees and plantains are struggling. Global increases in energy and food prices have increased due to deforestation and erosion along the Ucayali River.

The basic needs of the people are more important now than ever, affecting their long term planning abilities. There is now a sense that hunger may not be that far off for those in the farther reaches of the Shipibo nation.

Like all other indigenous populations in the Amazon basin, the Shipibo-Konibo are threatened by severe pressure from outside influences such as oil speculation, logging, narco-trafficking, conservation, and westernization.

 
Entry adapted from Wikipedia and Kilca Peru Travel News.