The indigenous singer and his cultural practices in the Terra Indígena Mãe Maria

Abstract

Located in the municipality of Bom Jesus do Tocantins, in the southeast of Pará, the Terra Indígena Mãe Maria (TIMM) is made up of three indigenous groups: the Akrãtikatêjê, the Parkatêjê and the Kỳikatêjê, also called “Gaviões do Pará”. Coming from a historical process of deterritorialization of their ancient and different lands in the context of chestnut extraction, the construction of the Transamazônica and the Tucuruí Hydroelectric Power Plant, in the temporal interregnum that runs from the end of the 1960s to the beginning of the 1980s, they are displaced and confined in this area despite ethnic specificity, causing the disruption of their ways of life. In this article we follow the strategies adopted by indigenous leaders to resume cultural practices, in particular songs and the training of indigenous singers. Based on field research in the context of rituals and games and records of thematic oral interviews, they point to the specificity of the forms of transmission of indigenous singing between the few singers who have played this role for decades and young indigenous people who experience the challenge of learning the indigenous singing despite the predominance of the Portuguese language and non-indigenous culture.

Submission: Mar 03, 2025 ⊶ Accepted: May 04, 2025