Burst of Breath: Indigenous Ritual Wind Instruments in Lowland South America

5. Flutes in the Warime: Musical Voices in the Piaroa World

5. Flutes in the Warime Musical Voices in the Piaroa World alexander mansutti rodríguez According to written sources from the colonial period, indigenous Arawak and Sáliva peoples living in the Orinoco basin were performing different forms of Yuruparí rituals at the time of contact with Europeans (Gilij 1965; Gumilla 1988; Humboldt 1991; Romero Moreno 1993). The Warime, a specific variety of Yurupar í rituals performed today among the Sáliva-speaking Piaroa and Wirö, is the most northern and eastern of the contemporary Yuruparí forms (Mansutti Rodríguez 2006). The main objectives of this chapter are to (1) describe the musical instruments played in Piaroa Warime rituals; (2) analyze the role they play in the ritual , the senses they privilege, and what they represent/re-create; and (3) evaluate the role that sacred flutes and other wind instruments play in the construction and transformation of hierarchical forms of social organization among the Piaroa. An overview of Piaroa history, the egalitarian organization of everyday social relations, and the shamanic basis of ritual hierarchy will lead into a more detailed demonstration of the fundamental role that sacred flutes and other musical instruments play in the episodic yet systematic construction of strongly hierarchical social relations. The Piaroa, also known as Dea’ruwa, Huottoja and Uwotjuja, are an indigenous people of Sáliva linguistic affiliation who occupy the middle Orinoco between 3º50' and 6º22' of latitude. Their traditional habitat was the interfluve forest, although today 148 mansutti they occupy sectors flanking the larger rivers (Mansutti Rodríguez 1990, 2002). Among the better known cultural attributes of this group are the Warime ritual, the control they exercise over their emotional expressions, the absolute prohibition of physical violence in their domains, and considerable shamanic prestige and renown (Overing 1986, 1989, 1990; Anduze 1974; Mansutti Rodr íguez 1991, 2003). During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the Piaroa were surrounded by a complex system of Arawak-speaking peoples who occupied the lands along the Sipapo, Mataveni, Guaviare, Atabapo, Ventuari, and Upper Negro rivers (Mansutti Rodríguez 1991, 2003). The fact that the surviving Arawak societies of this vast region still practice collective rituals with a variety of sacred flutes and other wind instruments is a clear indication that these rituals were quite widely shared among Arawak-speaking peoples (Hill 1993; 2000 on the Curripaco; González Ñañez 1986 on the Guarequena; Vidal 2000 on the Baré and Curripaco; Wright 1998 for the Baniva). In light of this fact, it is reasonable to assert that the sacred flute ritual known as Warime among the Piaroa was nourished by, and in its turn nourished, an intersocietal, regional system of rituals that was spread throughout the Upper Orinoco region but that developed among the Piaroa in ways that reflected the “Guayanese” particularities of Piaroa social organization. The latter include the egocentric structuring of their social relations (Riviere 1984) and the absence of corporate groups. Both of these features set the Piaroa apart from the Arawak-speaking groups living in areas to the south, west, and north. As late as the 1970s, the Piaroa lived in small, dispersed settlements of one or two extended families who cleared areas of humid tropical rainforest to build small communal houses, or itso’de. The population of such communities rarely exceeded thirty (Kaplan 1975). In contrast with neighboring societies, gender relations among the Piaroa were relatively cordial and lacking in recurrent physical violence. Although men’s opinions tended to be domi- Flutes in the Warime—149 nant in decisions concerning issues affecting the entire community , such as its defense or relocation, women were active participants in deliberations about how to manage everyday activities. Social hierarchies were quite simple and based principally on sex, age, place within kinship networks, and recognized abilities. Even after gaining status as an important leader, a man had a very limited capacity for imposing his opinions on other members of his community. The leader of the community is its founder or “owner of the house” (itsoderuwa), who is always a married man with at least one wife still living. At the leader’s side is his senior wife, if having more than one, who is recognized as the primary feminine authority of the community. A team of male workers organizes itself around the leadership of the “house owner,” and a parallel structure of female laborers surrounds his senior wife. The male teams...