Fires are raging in the Brazilian Amazon, one of the lushest regions on earth. It is not only unnatural for fires to occur in the rainforest, it is also a dangerous sign of human interference going yet another step too far. The state of Mato Grosso, which experts have likened to the US state of Iowa because of its wide agricultural stretches of single-crop fields, was one of the densest forests of the Amazon. It is rich not only in plant and animal species, but also in human cultural and creative diversity. The shrinking of the rainforest is endangering the very small number of human groups left there whose survival depends on their environment being undisturbed.
One example of the cultures of Mato Grosso is the Suya people, a group of Amazonian inhabitants whose music is best known to English-language readers through the work of music anthropologist Anthony Seeger. Music, for the Suya people, is a sacred thing; it is about creating society and recreating relationships, as Seeger so aptly describes it.
In Suya life, song and ceremony organize as well as reflect time, space and social interaction. Major song ceremonies mark time by marking the seasons, which are largely connected to rain. Ceremonies also determine space within the village because they are the basis on which the different parts of the village are designated for living, assembly or other functions. Through ceremony and song, music, most notably, determines social relationships. Similarly to many other cultures, Suya song has its masters who know all the songs and oversee the introduction of new ones. Within determined forms, major song ceremonies combine repeating practice with the addition of new songs. Maintaining a balance between continuity and innovation here, as elsewhere, is an intricate feature of how human creativity works within collective cultural practices.
Suya social life is created around and through music, according to Seeger’s perceptive work. Linguistically, the same Suya word is used for music and dance. The two are considered one, not separate things. Music for the Suya people is mainly song, played through the instrument of the human voice and punctuated by the body making percussive sounds through contact with the earth, with the help of variously shaped rattles that are attached to the body. In song ceremony, the body is also dressed differently, not with normal everyday clothing but with decorative patterns and colors. Seeger likens this garb to the special dress people wear to go to the opera today, or to the particularly ornamented dress codes that typically accompanied elaborate musical events in European courts and subsequently concert halls.
Certain Suya songs are sung for some people but not others, and in certain contexts singing is not appropriate. Challenging the general assumption that all cultures have lullabies, the Suya people of central Brazil do not sing songs to babies. They also do not sing when they are sad; song and sadness do not work together. Rather, as Seeger, who lived with the Suya people for two years to study their music, puts it, music creates euphoria out of silence through song. Seeger’s book, entitled “Why Suya Sing” is a wonderful study of the music of the Suya people, and one of the most fascinating reads about how humans make music. One of the many distinguishing features of this book is how it showcases, through the author’s unique perspective on Suya singing practices, the rich diversity of the ways in which humans understand the world in which they live.
The Amazon rainforest is important for many reasons; one of them is the diversity of life forms and species it contains. It is naturally watered by rain, so it is a lush part of the planet that we all count on for its ever more precious natural processes that help maintain a livable balance despite shortsighted exploitation by humans everywhere. As the postindustrial world attempts to grapple with the high cost of its technological successes, the question of how to be mindful of all forms of life around us and be aware of the scarcity of natural resources challenges technological advancement to the core.
The peoples of the Amazon have growing dangers to reckon with, namely the interference of deforestation and continuous encroachments on their lives.
Tala Jarjour
Whether intentionally or unintentionally, and leaving political bickering aside, human actions are, in one way or another, responsible for what have been described as the worst forest fires Brazil has seen in the last eight years. The crisis is far from limited and, while dropping thousands of gallons of water on the rainforest is an alarming irony, multiple nations are mobilizing to coordinate global action. From international climate change treaties to local environmental policies and community initiatives, the aim is to reduce the negative effects of our daily actions on the planet. In the meantime, the peoples of the Amazon have growing dangers to reckon with, namely the interference of deforestation and continuous encroachments on their lives.
One of these peoples, the Suya people, from whose song Seeger has shown that there is much to learn, rely on the natural world in every possible aspect of life, including music. Suya music composers, as one might describe those who instigate new songs, learn them by hearing them once, from birds, fish or other creatures, which are believed to convey them from Suya ancestors. Human life, including the spiritual and social aspects that we think distinguish us from the rest of living creation, is never strong enough to survive without the world around it.
- Tala Jarjour is author of “Sense and Sadness: Syriac Chant in Aleppo” (OUP, 2018). She is currently Visiting Research Fellow at King’s College London and Associate Fellow of Pierson College at Yale.
