El Canto del Tiempo: Ayahuasca Ikaros by don Evangelino Murayay. New York, NY: Above Love Records, 2007. Liner notes; $16.00 (CD).
Reviewed by Timothy White. Reprinted from Shaman's Drum, Number 77.
This professionally produced volume, El Canto del Tiempo (The Song of Time), offers students of ayahuasca a good sampling of mestizo Peruvian icaros (ayahuasca chants), including a couple of instrumental icaros, performed on Andean bone flutes and a small stringed guitar. Don Evangelino, an Andean highlander who studied and dieted with several Amazonian master healers, seems to have mastered a solid understanding of ayahuasca traditions.
Based on the fact that all eight photos of don Evangelino manage to tastefully hide his identity, I assume that he is one of the many ayahuasqueros who prefer to maintain a low profile. However, people who have worked with Peruvian ayahuasqueros here or abroad may recognize several of the chants—Llamando la Mareacion (Calling the Vision), Ikaro de Protección (Protection Icaro), and Ikaro de la Curación (Curing Icaro).
Evangelino’s particularly clear articulation of the Spanish and Quechua chant lyrics is complemented by the inclusion of a small trilingual booklet, which includes transcriptions of the lyrics as well as translations into English. Indeed, Evangelino’s clear, melodic voice, his ability to carry a tune, and the overall clarity of the recording make this volume an excellent resource for learning icaros, particularly for individuals like myself who sometimes have difficulty deciphering the lyrics of indigenous chants from recordings alone.
This recording is available at Amazon.com as a CD and as an MP3 download.
Timothy White is founding editor of Shaman’s Drum and a practitioner of entheogenic shamanism.
Reviewed by Timothy White. Reprinted from Shaman's Drum, Number 77.
This professionally produced volume, El Canto del Tiempo (The Song of Time), offers students of ayahuasca a good sampling of mestizo Peruvian icaros (ayahuasca chants), including a couple of instrumental icaros, performed on Andean bone flutes and a small stringed guitar. Don Evangelino, an Andean highlander who studied and dieted with several Amazonian master healers, seems to have mastered a solid understanding of ayahuasca traditions.
Based on the fact that all eight photos of don Evangelino manage to tastefully hide his identity, I assume that he is one of the many ayahuasqueros who prefer to maintain a low profile. However, people who have worked with Peruvian ayahuasqueros here or abroad may recognize several of the chants—Llamando la Mareacion (Calling the Vision), Ikaro de Protección (Protection Icaro), and Ikaro de la Curación (Curing Icaro).
Evangelino’s particularly clear articulation of the Spanish and Quechua chant lyrics is complemented by the inclusion of a small trilingual booklet, which includes transcriptions of the lyrics as well as translations into English. Indeed, Evangelino’s clear, melodic voice, his ability to carry a tune, and the overall clarity of the recording make this volume an excellent resource for learning icaros, particularly for individuals like myself who sometimes have difficulty deciphering the lyrics of indigenous chants from recordings alone.
This recording is available at Amazon.com as a CD and as an MP3 download.
Timothy White is founding editor of Shaman’s Drum and a practitioner of entheogenic shamanism.
Published by Shaman's Drum and the Cross-Cultural Shamanism Network, copyright 2008. This article is intended for the noncommercial use of shamansdrum.org users, and it may not be reproduced or sold without the written permission of the publishers:
Shaman's Drum, P.O. Box 270, Williams, OR 97544 ~ 1-541-846-1313