{"id":213672,"date":"2022-11-10T18:35:16","date_gmt":"2022-11-10T17:35:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test.visit-latin-america.com\/?p=213672"},"modified":"2024-12-05T22:14:33","modified_gmt":"2024-12-05T20:14:33","slug":"the-songs-of-the-mapuche-people-ancestral-knowledge-and-orality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/visit-latin-america.com\/en\/the-songs-of-the-mapuche-people-ancestral-knowledge-and-orality\/","title":{"rendered":"The songs of the Mapuche people: ancestral knowledge and orality"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Text by Mar\u00eda Beatriz Vitarelli – Translation Rafael Tobar – This article was originally published on www.elcafelatino.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Mapuche people are one of the original peoples of South America who inhabited the region of Argentinean<\/a> and Chilean<\/a> Patagonia before the arrival of the Spanish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, the Mapuche people preserve their language, Mapudungun<\/em>, and their ancestral customs, especially in rural areas. They are a bilingual and bicultural people who are evolving towards interculturalism. The Mapuche preserve and promote their ancestral knowledge by means of an orality linked by different discursive practices, including the \u00fclkantun<\/em> or Mapuche song[I].<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u00fclkantun<\/em> is an artistic creation specific to the Mapuche culture. The first \u00fclkantun<\/em> was recorded in Chile around 1629 by Francisco N\u00fa\u00f1ez de Pineda y Bascu\u00f1\u00e1n<\/em>. The narrator tells how the cacique Quilalebo<\/em> bid him farewell with a song accompanied by dances and instruments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u00fclkantun<\/em> is a specific type of sung speech in the Mapuche language. It is created individually in monodic form and has a poetic-musical character, addressing a wide variety of themes. Its dissemination in a community setting makes it anonymous and social. Its brevity is its most characteristic feature, although there are very long texts, such as those related to epic themes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the bibliography consulted [II], the themes of the \u00fclkantun<\/em> are varied and can be classified into seven recurring themes. The lamngen \u00fclkantun<\/em> or love song, the machi \u00fcl<\/em> or healing song, the ng\u00fcn\u00fcl\u00fcn<\/em> or elegiac song, the pichiche \u00fcl<\/em> or lullaby, the weichapeg\u00fcm \u00fcl<\/em> or epic song, the llamekan<\/em> or social song, and the \u00f1uwin \u00fcl<\/em> or threshing song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In general, the singing is accompanied by the kultrum<\/em>, a percussion instrument made of sheepskin. However, elegies are accompanied by another small metal instrument, the trumpet, trompetupey\u00fcn \u00fcl. <\/em>Another instrument that can accompany songs is the kink\u00fclkawe, <\/em>a vocal resonator bow made from two pieces of foal rib.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As an example, we share two transcriptions made in 1963 in San Mart\u00edn de Los Ande <\/em>and in Neuqu\u00e9n<\/em> by researchers specialising in Mapuche culture, including Berta Koessler-Ilg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The epic songs or weichapeg\u00fcm \u00fcl <\/em>evoke the occupation of land and the struggles against the Chileans and Argentines, the winka<\/em>, and around the mal\u00f3n<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Uenankun elkantun<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pe\u00f1i anai pe\u00f1i m\u00fcleinga m\u00fclai mapu gna\u00f1itemum, anai pe\u00f1i. Ragn\u00fcn k\u00fcme ke kullin meut’emum m\u00fcrkei eneu gna\u00f1i k\u00fcme ke femg\u00f1en, anai pe\u00f1i. Fanten meu gna uesa che reke ngamiautun, anai pe\u00f1i.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brother, brother-friend: here, here is the country where I grew up, brother-friend. In the midst of the best animals, I was raised by my dear parents, brother-friend. But now I walk like a wretch, brother-friend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The healing songs or machi \u00fcl are the songs sung by the main female figure in Mapuche society: the machi. In the machit\u00fan or healing ritual, they sing, pray and dance accompanied by the kultrum and the pifilka.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Cover of the traditional Mapuche songs album \u00a9 1998 Iris Music<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

VIII<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00bf,,Mon\u00e9an \u201cpilaimi te?
\u00bf,,Mon\u00e9an na\u201d pilaimi te?
F\u00ebreneqeimeu Ng\u00ebnechen.
Akuleimi mariepu reni\u00f1wenu llawe\u00f1 mai,
Tami monean,
Tami f\u00ebreneeteu rangi\u00f1wenu Ng\u00ebnechen.
El\u00fayeaimeu mariepu llawen\u00b4mai.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did you not say, “I want to get well”?
Didn’t you say, “I want to get well”?
God has had mercy on you.
I bring you twelve remedies from high heaven,
That you may be healed,
For the heavens have had mercy on you.
God has had mercy on you.
He will give you twelve remedies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recent work by Herminia Navarro Hartmann and Olga Huenaihuen on Mapuche poetry confirms the validity of a language, Mapundungun, which is evolving towards registers unknown at its origins, such as writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u00a0\u00a0Bibliography: FERN\u00c1NDEZ, C\u00e9sar et NAVARRO, Herminia, Ulkantun : cancionero mapuche. Ed. Carminalucis, Buenos Aires, 2021.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Video: The diffusion of Mapuche song in the present day in the voice of Anah\u00ed Rayen Mariluan<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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