44 



INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 10 



They also step with care so as to avoid sting rays, 

 whose stabs leave nasty wounds. 



ART, MUSIC, AND DANCING 



Art, apart from the song and dance, has re- 

 mained at a very backward level among the 

 Siriono. Beyond the stringing of necklaces, the 

 painting of the body (without design), and the 

 decoration of hair with feathers, no attempt is 

 made to embellish anything. Most objects of 

 the culture, in fact, seem to have a purely utili- 

 tarian reason for existence. Pottery is not only 

 rude but plain. Such thixigs as bows and arrows 

 and calabashes are never decorated. Moreover, 

 the idea of portraying some aspect of the culture, 

 realistically or symbolically, by drawing, painting, 

 or sculpture is completely foreign to these Indians. 



What has been said of art can also be said of the 

 instrumental aspect of music. Not a single type 

 of musical instrument is known. Not even such 

 rhythm-beating instruments as rattles or clappers 

 are employed, nor is anything ever hung on the 

 body to make noise to accompany singing or 

 dancing. All music, in fact, is vocal. Singing 

 does, however, play an important role in the 

 culture. 



Early morning singing, which makes it impos- 

 sible for anyone to sleep after it starts, is a definite 

 part of each day's routine, especially when the 

 group is settled for any length of time as they 

 were at Tibaera. Even on the march, or when a 

 man is out alone with his family, this practice is 

 followed. Everyone sings. The songs are mo- 

 notonous, impromptu chants, which sometimes 

 have reference to some aspect of the food quest. 

 From some distance away, the early morning 

 chorus sounds not unlike a group of howler 

 monkeys heralding the day from the top of some 

 distant tree. 



When I was first with the Indians I forced myself 

 to leave a comfortable hammock and mosquito 

 net many times at about 3 a. m., and, with flash- 

 light, pencil, and notebook in hand, I made a 

 sincere effort to record some of this early morning 

 music. After a series of unrewarding attempts, 

 however, and under extremely unpleasant condi- 

 tions, I allowed the Indians to greet the day with- 

 out the nuisance of my presence. My informants 

 all told me, however, that the songs had no mean- 

 ing, and, as far as the words were concerned, I 



am inclined to believe that this is true. In dis- 

 cussing the question with Abraham Richards, the 

 son of an American cattle rancher who was born 

 and raised with a group of Siriono on his father's 

 cattle ranch near El Carmen, he told me that he, 

 also, was never able to make any sense out of 

 these early morning songs. However that may 

 be, on inquiring of informants as to why they 

 always greeted the day with songs, one of two 

 reasons was always given: either they were happy 

 or they were like the birds ("Hadn't I noticed 

 that most of the birds and some of the animals 

 greeted the day with song?"). Singing in the 

 morning thus may perform the function not only 

 of pleasantly filling in the period between dark- 

 ness and dawn, after sufficient sleep has been 

 obtained and before the activities of the day 

 begin, but also of reinforcing the bonds main- 

 tained with the animal world. 



The importance of singing at drinking feasts 

 has already been stressed. The songs sung at 

 this time, like those sung in the early morning, 

 are largely impromptu. To record them without 

 instruments is next to an impossibility, because 

 the singers are drunk and mouth their words 

 more than usual. Insofar as I was able to deter- 

 mine, however, they are stylized only as to form 

 and rhythm and never as to content. Informants 

 said that when drunk they sang whatever rhyth- 

 mical combinations came into their heads. 



The most meaningful songs seem to be those 

 that are sung in connection with the dance. 

 Dancing (yuruki) is always accompanied by 

 singing {hiddsi ddsi) and is a very common way 

 of passing parts of the long tropical nights espe- 

 cially when the moon is shining. Group dancing 

 is rarely indulged in during the day or on nights 

 when the moon is dark. On such nights a fear 

 of evil spirits keeps the Indian close to his ham- 

 mock. 



Both men and women dance to the accompani- 

 ment of songs, but they never dance together. 

 Nor do people dance alone. A man (or woman) 

 wishing to dancp may get up and do a solo number 

 by way of animating his tribesmen to join him, 

 but the expression of the dance comes through 

 participation of several people in the circle. 



In forming the dance circle, men link their arms 

 in the following manner. With his right hand one 

 grasps the left wrist of the second person on one's 

 right. One's left wrist is then grasped by the right 



