Icaro () is a

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

n indigenous and mestizo colloquialism for magic song. Today, this term is commonly used to describe the medicine songs performed in '' vegetal'' ceremonies, especially by shamans in ayahuasca ceremonies. Each Amazonian ethnic group has a specific term for this type of generic magical song: for example, eshuva for the Huachipaire people, ''meye'' for the Piaroa, ''mariri'' for the Kokama, or ''rao bewá'' for the Shipibo.

Etymology

The word ''icaro'' is believed to derive from the Quechua verb ''ikaray'', which means "to blow smoke in order to heal".

In healing ceremonies

Medicine songs

Icaro is most commonly used to describe the medicine songs used by shamans in healing ceremonies, such as with the psychedelic brew ayahuasca. Traditionally, these songs can be performed by whistling, singing with the voice or vocables, or playing an instrument such as the

didgeridoo The didgeridoo (;()), also spelt didjeridu, among other variants, is a wind instrument, played with vibrating lips to produce a continuous Drone (music), drone while using a special breathing technique called circular breathing. The didgerido ...

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

. Traditionally, icaros may come to a shaman during a ceremony, be passed down from previous lineages of healers, or come to a shaman during a 'dieta' where plant spirits are believed to teach icaros to the shaman directly. The singing or whistling of icaros is sometimes accompanied by a chakapa, a rattle of bundled leaves. Due to the complexity of certain performance techniques, it may take many years to learn certain icaros, and experienced shamans may be able to recite hundreds of them.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Icaro Peruvian songs Music of Peru Shamanism of the Americas Cultural heritage of Peru Shipibo-Conibo