In Aboriginal cultures, shamanic singing and the playing of musical instruments are of priority order for communication with spirits.
The shaman ascends in the performance of various rites and ceremonies. He has the conviction that in that elevation of his spirit, in conjunction with the elevation of sounds, he will find the powerful spirit that will be alchemized with sound. He knows that this spirit will guide him in the search and obtaining of the achievement he seeks.
This magical flight of the shaman, combined with the sounds of singing and the playing of some instruments, is evident from the shamanic point of view, but indescribable from rationalized logic. Only the shamanic explanation is the only one capable of describing it and field research, the only experience capable of perceiving it and even feeling it.
Shamanic action is not only launched towards the known, but also towards the unknown. Therefore, we reaffirm: nothing explains it, it is not an axiom or a law from the point of view of science, it is rather an understanding of the world in which structures are absent and nothing obeys logic.
The magical flight and the elevation of the sounds of singing or musical instruments represent the transcendence that surpasses the limitations of man; Due to this conviction, magical flight, music and shamanic ecstasy are absolutely indispensable in any approach to the cosmogonic conception of the body in aboriginal cultures.
Shamans explain that both auxiliary and adverse spirits, as well as gods and demigods, like to listen to singing and the sounds of musical instruments.
For the shamanic conception, the first need is to master the sound; Once this principle is achieved, one reaches flight or travel and masters the main elements such as fire, air and water. Each of these elements, as Paracelsus defined them, have the virtual condition of their oppositions: fire heats, roasts and burns. That is, fire gives life but also destroys. The water element is life, it quenches thirst, but it also drowns. The air element is life, but it is also destruction if it exceeds its powers.
Faced with these three elements of creative and destructive potential at the same time, shamanic singing and the execution of the appropriate musical instruments are the mediators to convert all their actions into positivity. In this way, shamanic chanting approaches the spirits of life, convinces the spirits of destruction, and appeases and reorients the eternal spirits to creative actions.
Rattles or maracas, shaking idiophones, are associated with the cosmos. The shaman who owns a maraca and knows how to play it knows its paths, rises towards the eternal land of the infinite and is capable of sustaining the world.
Flutes, whistles and sound reeds, as we have already explained, are associated with procreation, birth and the journeys of the spirit through the body of the human being and through the layers of the earth. With its sounds you perceive the magical birth of the world and of life.
There are also many other flutes and whistles, as well as ocarinas made from reeds, bones, skulls of jaguars, deer, monkeys, etc., and also instruments that are played by rubbing, such as those made from turtle shells, which the Mayans also used. (the ayotl); Cattle horn trumpets are also used to acquire their strength and clay flutes and ocarinas, etc. All of them are auxiliary instruments within shamanic, therapeutic, ritual or festive practice.
Source: Ronny Velazquez – Ethnomusicology and Folklore Foundation of the Central University of Venezuela.
