Singing, Recording – Ye'kwana (RR) and Guarani Kaiowá (MS) Experiences with the Documentation and Circulation of Songs
In this Double CEstA, we propose a dialogue between two ethnographic studies centered on song documentation projects, based on a challenge shared by the Ye'kwana in Roraima, the Guarani Kaiowá in Mato Grosso do Sul, and other Indigenous peoples: recording their songs as a way to safeguard this precious traditional knowledge. In the first case, we will present the strategies adopted by the Ye’kwana to build a collection that respects their own ontology, taking into account the complex interconnections between the songs, the singing masters, and the recordings. In the second case, we will address the Guarani Kaiowá’s reflections on the voice and singing—the force and substance that give rise to the person—to discuss the role played by recordings and the imperfect technologies of non-indigenous people in promoting the circulation of the songs and perpetuating the Guarani way of life on this land.
Poster image: A song being performed during the “menina moça” ritual. Fuduuwaadunnha Community, Yanomami Indigenous Territory / Majoí Gongora, 2013.
Tatiane Maíra Klein
Tatiane Maíra Klein is a journalist and anthropologist at the Socio-Environmental Institute (ISA). She holds a Ph.D. and a master’s degree in Social Anthropology from the University of São Paulo (USP) and has been conducting research among the Guarani peoples in Mato Grosso do Sul and São Paulo for over 15 years. She is the editor-in-chief of ISA’s Encyclopedia of Indigenous Peoples in Brazil and the author of the dissertation “What Makes the Voice: The Circulation of Kaiowá and Guarani Prayer Songs.”
Majoí Fávero Gongora
An anthropologist, editor, and curator, she holds a Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from the University of São Paulo, with postdoctoral studies at the same institution and at the Laboratoire d’Anthropologie Sociale (LAS, France). Since 2013, she has been conducting ethnographic research among the Ye’kwana people (Roraima, Brazil), focusing particularly on ritual songs, indigenous collections, and forms of knowledge transmission. She has coordinated collaborative projects documenting Ye’kwana culture (National Museum of Indigenous Peoples/UNESCO and EMKP/British Museum) in collaboration with Ye’kwana researchers and the Seduume association. She served as research coordinator and curatorial assistant for “Nhe’ẽ Porã: Memory and Transformation” (2022–2023), an exhibition organized by the Museum of the Portuguese Language (MLP) and curated by Daiara Tukano, dedicated to the diversity of Indigenous languages in Brazil. She is currently a member of the team at the Center for Documentation of Indigenous Languages and Cultures, an initiative of MAE-USP and the MLP.
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