Focusing Perspectives and Establishing Boundaries and Power

Why the Suyá/Kïsêdjê Sing for the Whites in the Twenty-first Century

Bibliographic Data

ID5828615
AuthorsAnthony Seeger (0000-0002-6567-2778, corresponding author)
Year2013
Volume22
Issue3
Pages362-376
Publication date2013-10-18
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueBritish Journal of Ethnomusicology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0968-1221 • E-ISSN: 1741-1920
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/17411912.2013.844442
OpenAlexW1994004881
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited17

Looking at Lowland South America as a whole, it appears that instrumental and vocal music are essential components of the relationships between kinds of beings and realms. This is one reason why music in the region is important and so often at the heart, rather than the periphery, of social experience. New music is produced and learned at the interface between kinds of beings, and music is used to transition from one realm to another or one kind of being to another. But how does one move from the apparently sacred sphere intrinsic to these societies to the conflicted struggle of these Indigenous communities to survive the assaults on their lands, their health and their livelihood brought by agroindustry, large dam projects and oil drilling? What is the place of music at this interface, and what does that use tell us about music as a whole for the region?Keywords: Brazilian IndiansMusicKïsêdjêPerspectivismIdentity Notes1 I use the word 'White' throughout this paper to mean 'all non-Indians'. In Brazil, many of these are not Caucasian, but the word is a gloss on the commonly used Portuguese term brancos and has the advantage of including both Brazilians and foreigners.2 Members of the group known for over a century in the literature as the Suyá now prefer to be called by one of their own names for themselves, Kïsêdjê. I use both names in titles and this paragraph in order to be clear that I am discussing the group formerly known as Suyá and to help with bibliographic searches. I had written extensively on them before they wished to have their name changed (Seeger Citation1980, Citation1981, [Citation1987] 2004, and many articles). The Brazilian anthropologist Marcela Coelho de Souza, who currently works with the Suyá/Kïsêdjê, uses the name Kïsêdjê in the titles of her publications. From this paragraph on, I refer to the group by the name Kïsêdjê, in accordance with their request.3 Terence Turner has written a very detailed and thoughtful review of perspectivism in the journal Tipití (Turner Citation2009), and also observes that the descriptions of perspectivism do not translate completely to his own ethnographic area, the Gê-speaking Kayapó.4 I can vividly recall a long discussion with Eduardo Viveiros de Castro when he was still a graduate student beginning his research among the Araweté, the Tupí-speaking group described in his ethnography (Viveiros de Castro Citation1992). I kept asking about the spatial layout of the villages, to which he responded that there was not much apparent system to it. He described a shaman's cure and said it happened 'in his back yard', to which I responded with disbelief. The complexity of Tupí cosmology is in other realms, not laid out on the ground and enacted within that layout. We then began to come to grips with how a Gê-centric view of Lowland South America was not going to answer all of the questions either.5 The Kïsêdjê do not specify the species of each group in which spirits reside. They refer to larger categories-all bees (mben), all birds, all game animals, all fish and so forth. The spirit learns the language the group shares. For example, all bees and wasps were said to live together in a single huge village to the East.6 Several Kïsêdjê ceremonies have an origin story of this kind. Much to my surprise this turns out to be true of the Mouse Ceremony, described in Why Suyá Sing.7 Late one night in 2008, I heard flute-playing in the men's house (a rarity among the Kïsêdjê), but with strangely long pauses between the pieces. In the men's house, an older man with a cassette tape recorder was listening to a tape and reproducing the melodies on a small bamboo duct flute. He gleefully told me how he had managed to get the tape from a member of another tribe for very little money. The point was less the money than the subterfuge of getting the music he could play to the whole village from another community (an Upper Xingu society that has an extensive wind instrument tradition). The process of obtaining music from strangers persists, but the methods have changed.8 Note how important the skin is for both Brazilians and Kïsêdjê-for the Whites, real Indians wear no clothes but have painted skins; for the Kïsêdjê, Whites have distinctively baggy, non-Kïsêdjê, skins. In many parts of Amazonia, the skin defines the person. Animals can take off their animal skins and become like humans, and many Indigenous body paint designs define specific people and statuses. While some of these tendencies were visible during the period of my research (1971-2005), they are the object of much greater self-conscious community reflection today than they were in the past.9 The complex negotiations around the preparation of an advertisement for a line of sandals launched by the super-model Gisele Bundchen is described by Marcela Coelho de Souza in her fascinating article on the subject (Coelho de Souza Citation2012). The video advertisement itself, which I played during my presentation at the International Council for Traditional Music, features the Kïsêdjê singing in unison and may still be visible on YouTube. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rk9PPYLLShs (accessed 12 April 2013).10 After I gave this paper at the 41st International Council for Traditional Music World Conference in Newfoundland, Canada, Jean Ngoya Kidula sat down next to me and said: 'I heard your paper, and you have given away our secret!' Whose secret, I wondered. The 'our' in this case referred to communities in Africa who are similarly aware of the stereotypes about them and similarly purposely focus the foreigners' gaze on certain aspects of themselves through performance.11 See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uM6t-E9pp50 (accessed 12 April 2013). They have also recently published a wonderful 34-minute video on the 2010 performance of the Mouse Ceremony, which those familiar with my book on the ceremony (Seeger Citation2004) would probably enjoy (Video nas Aldeias Citation2011).12 See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2TTZGVDZdY (accessed 12 April 2013).13 The filmmaker confirmed that there was no Kïsêdjê music at the event, but mentioned their presence in the speeches and in the Kayapó dance.14 See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FU2O9RNNTx8 (accessed 12 April 2013).15 The video is interesting in that it presents visuals of Upper Xingu Indians dancing, but overlays a Kïsêdjê song on top of the visuals. This may have been because of concerns about intellectual property, or it may be because they wanted their own music in the video

Paragraph · Realm · Amazonian Archaeology and Ethnohistory · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Archaeology and Rock Art Studies

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