Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 3.11. Guarani children sing and dance led by shaman Henrique Firmino.
By Mariano Tupã Mirim, 1999.
Meanwhile, tribal leader Luiz Karaí invited me to watch the xondaro performance
at the opy, where 15 children, between 2 and 14 years of age, danced and sang in
Guarani for almost 2 hours; they were accompanied by the violin of Sílvio Karaí,
the brother of Luiz Karaí and one of the village's youngest healers. They sang
about Nhanderu, the Guarani Creator; Nhande Rekó
,
the Guarani way of life; and
Ywy Marae'y, the Land-without-Evil, located
rovai jajapura
, across the ocean.
Political themes have also been incorporated into the villagers' musical repertory, as
expressed in the following song chanted by the children about the historical process
of Guarani land exploitation by Portuguese colonizers. Here, as in other instances
of their play, the children are producing a political commentary about their current
living situation:
Pemê'e jevy pemê'e jevy
Give back, give back
Oreyvy pera'a va'e kue
The land that you stole
Roiko'i haguã
From us
Pera'a va kue roiko'i haguâ.
So that we can keep on living.
When
xondaro
was over, I asked the children who had been handling the candy
and toys earlier to explain to me what they had been doing. Kátia, the 12-year-
old, said she had been “playing missonary” with the plastic dolls. Mizael informed
