La corona de la inspiración. Los diseños geométricos de los shipibo-konibo y sus relaciones con cosmovisión y música

Abstract

Combining their different backgrounds, Mori being a member of the Shipibo people and Brabec a European ethnomusicologist, both authors research is on the relationship between a) art, b) music and c) traditional medicine and world view of the Shipibo-Konibo. Some 'myths' about 'healing designs' which 'can be sung', about enigmatic codes in (medical as well as non-medical) songs and in designs, and about a type of 'book' of the Shipibo (mentioned in part of the ethnographical literature), are questioned. Connections between ayawaska medicine, medical songs and presumed 'healing designs' are examined. The analysis of a song with the explicit function of 'evoking designs', its poetic text and musical patterns transcribed and compared to the designs, makes clear 1) that the geometrical designs under discussion (kené/kewé) serve to underline and to express ethnic identity, beauty and quality, although there is no evidence of any code, 2) that some correspondences can be found on a purely aesthetical level, far from any esoteric perspective, and 3) that the core significance implied in the designs depends on the personal idea, the inspiration of the artist herself (who does not act upon norms 'dictated' by a male curandero).