Strengthening the Traditional Knowledge of the Kamayurá People
Memory, Music, Literature, and the Future
The Kamayurá are a Tupi-speaking Indigenous people who inhabit the Upper Xingu region, within the Xingu Indigenous Territory in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil.
Their culture brings together knowledge passed down orally through narratives, rituals, music, arts, and intergenerational relationships. Among the Kamayurá, music, narratives, and rituals are part of a shared system of knowledge that structures collective life, preserves the memory of ancestors, and expresses their own ways of understanding the world.
In recent decades, particularly following the Covid-19 pandemic, several important elders have passed away, making it even more urgent to strengthen the transmission of this knowledge to younger generations.
Today, for example, the Jakuí — a flute central to Kamayurá rituals and culture — is no longer played because some of the elders who knew its musical repertoire passed away before passing this knowledge on to younger generations. Today, there are no young Kamayurá who possess the knowledge needed to play and perform this repertoire as it was traditionally practiced.
A PROJECT FOR CONTINUITY
This project emerged from a request made by Kamayurá leaders and proposes an integrated initiative to strengthen Kamayurá traditions through the transmission of musical knowledge, the revision and publication of key works of Kamayurá literature, and collaborative audiovisual documentation, while recognizing and valuing the masters, female masters, and knowledge holders who preserve these traditions.
For the Kamayurá people, music is more than an artistic expression. It is an integral part of the structure of rituals and the cultural and cosmological calendar. The Jakuí is a fundamental flute for the Kamayurá, connected to the people's origin stories and cosmology. It is played by men. As the men play, women respond through song. During the Yamurikumã ritual, women occupy the center of the ceremony: they sing, speak, dance, and assume a position of presence and strength.
There is no life without song. There is no ritual without the body. These forms of knowledge cannot continue to exist without being practiced.
For this reason, transmission must take place from person to person, from one generation to the next, through listening, shared experience, and practice. It is not simply about learning a sound, but about acquiring wisdom. The Kamayurá's self-designation is Apyap — "those who listen". Accordingly, the project will work with the holders of this knowledge: people familiar with the Jakuí and Yamurikumã repertoires who will dedicate time to teaching these songs once again to men and women who wish to learn them.
Recovering music, therefore, does not mean returning to the past. It means ensuring that the future can continue to belong to the Kamayurá people.
TWO AREAS OF ACTION
PART 1: MUSICAL KNOWLEDGE
Over a period of 10 months, five training modules will be held for 10 days to transmit the Jakuí and Yamurikumã repertoires.
The project includes:
- Training: 5 young Jakuí flute players and 10 women in the traditional Yamurikumã repertoire.
- Instructors: 2 masters of the Jakuí flutes and 3 female masters of Yamurikumã songs.
A collaborative documentary, 20 to 30 minutes in length, and a photographic essay documenting the process will also be produced.
PART 2: KAMAYURÁ LITERATURE
The project includes the revision and republication of Moroneta Kamayurá – Kamayurá Stories, narrated by Takumã Kamayurá and Kokar Kamayurá, as well as the revision, editing, and publication of the book Kwaryp, which documents the stages of the ritual, from the death of an individual to its conclusion.
A total of 1,000 copies of each publication will be produced.
Distribution will include:
- 500 copies for the Kamayurá community, intended for Indigenous schools, community collections, and the preservation of cultural memory.
- 200 copies for Indigenous schools in the Upper Xingu region and other communities.
- 300 copies for universities, libraries, museums, cultural centers, and research institutions.
A PARTNERSHIP OF MORE THAN 25 YEARS
The project is the result of a partnership built over more than 25 years between the project coordination team and the Kamayurá people, shaped by research, documentation processes, publications, artistic initiatives, and long-term engagement in the village.
This shared trajectory has given rise, among other works, to the books Moroneta Kamayurá – Kamayurá Stories and Kwaryp.
The present project represents the continuation of this shared journey, dedicated to preserving this knowledge, and will be developed through ongoing dialogue with the community.
MONITORING AND TRANSPARENCY
The project will be monitored by the A Outra Margem team and the Kamayurá community. All decisions concerning activities, scheduling, financial management, and project monitoring will be made in dialogue with the community.
At the end of the project, a comprehensive technical and financial report will be produced. A dedicated page on the A Outra Margem website, available in Portuguese and English, will bring together information about the activities, photographs, documentary, publications, project implementation, financial accountability, and final report.
