Yengakatu, the beautiful songs

Presentation

This book is an anthology of great ceremonial songs in the Wayãpi language. The singers, dancers and those who brew and offer the cassava beer without which there would be no ceremony, no dance and no song, all these people live on the upper Oyapock, the river that forms the border between French Guiana and Brazil, in the northeast of Amazonia. Wayãpi belongs to the large family of Tupi-Guarani languages, spoken over a vast geographical area, in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, Brazil, and finally Guyana.

This collection of songs is first and foremost conceived as a means of transmission. And this, in several ways: recording, listening to, transcribing and translating these songs were the occasion for a great many intergenerational exchanges, of which this volume is at once an image, and the result. This book is therefore conceived as an active object. These songs have acted as cultural witnesses. They produced recognition, and at the same time, historical, linguistic, social and poetic knowledge. Everyone was fully involved in a shared process of knowledge-building. Grandfathers, grandmothers, young men and women in dialogue, different generations together producing their new philology and historical science. Finally, this collection is also an image of the pride of an entire people, a pride in the richness of its danced ceremonies, great celebrations full of life that give strength to each and every one.

You can listen to an audio extract of each song, while following the transcription of its words and music.

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Authors

Jacky Maluka Pawe born in 1950, is recognized throughout the Oyapock river valley as a great singer. He is also the customary representative of the villages of the upper Oyapock, leading most of their major dances.

Luc Taitetu Lassouka is the grandson of the late Yakanali chief, who was one of the main people responsible for passing on the great musical repertoires. He is always very interested in, and very active in, translation issues.

Jérémie Wilaya Mata is also a national park agent, part of a large family of singers descended from the late chief Eugène Inãmu. He was very involved in the translation workshops, where his questions were both precise and philologically far-reaching.

Jean-Michel Beaudet has been researching Amazonian music and dance for forty-five years, and has spent many years in Amerindian villages in Brazil, Bolivia and French Guiana. He is a teacher-researcher at Paris Nanterre University and a member of the CNRS (Crem/Lesc).

357 pages
16 x 24 cm
Publication: 09/09/2021
ISBN: 9782858313600