Piaroa

Piaroa lineup, some in costume
11 x 14 inches, various materials on paper, 2020

The collection of field recordings from The Columbia World Library of Folk and Primitive Music, vol. 9: Venezuela features a block of five songs with recordings of the native Piaroa peoples. The recordings were made by Pierre Gaisseau in 1949 in the Upper Orinoco. He was probably also the one to provide the photograph in the booklet of the album produced by Juan Liscano and Alan Lomax. The source I used was a different photo, it is the banner of a facebook page dedicated to the Piaroa. Seventy years between the two photographs but nothing changed. (The presence of a woman in the newer photo may be a change from the old one as in the liner notes it is stated that these costumes were hidden from the women.) The Piaroa are egalitarian in organization which is not all that common in native societies of the Amazon region, or anywhere in the world for that matter. This not only applies to the social hierarchical structures but to the genders as well. They are anti-authoritarian and opposed to the hoarding of resources. [Wikipedia] Like Zen Buddhists they are taught to not hoard possessions and not take themselves too seriously from an early age. They ridicule anyone who displays pride or vanity. They laugh a lot. (Why am I so serious I often wonder.)

The COVID-19 situation did not change a lot in Venezuela since I last wrote about the country on April 8th. There are now 329 cases reported with 10 deaths, three weeks ago the numbers were 166 and 7 respectively. Venezuela is one of a few countries whose numbers will be followed in the months to come as at least four more recordings have found their way into the current top 100. The Piaroa now reside at #8 and have another recording lower down the list. Venezuela as a country, of course, has other issues to deal with beside the coronavirus. (Like corruption in a failing oil-based economy—I'm not sure how this all would affect the Piaroa, I hope they continue to laugh a lot.)