A soundscape from day to night in the Ucayali with the Shipibo-Konibo.
Melanie Dizon
February 4, 2023
CRAFTING THE FIELD #07
A XAPIRI GROUND SERIES
FEATURING GHOSTHORSE
Crafting the Field by Xapiri Ground is a creative series of musical compositions that express upon the natural and social environments surrounding Indigenous culture and their contemporaries.
Through collaborations with Indigenous artists, sound designers, and music producers we hope to encourage a diffusion between cultures through creative research and mutual respect.
For this series #07 we feature the sound artist Ghosthorse (Carlos De la Cruz) whose musical exploration draws us into the fauna, customs and vocal narratives of the Shipibo-Konibo culture in a special collaboration with Korin Pino, Pekon Jisbe, and Sanken Yaká from the Masisea community in the Ucayali region of the Peruvian Amazon. This composition also features original field recordings from the vicinity of the Cashibococha Lagoon, located 16 km from Pucallpa in an aim to reflect the sonoric gradations from midnight to dawn. The artist remarks that “... the songs of some species of Amazonian fauna such as the Dactylomys Dactylinus, Megascops Choliba and Nyctibius Grandis were captured by chance.”
The sonoric journey begins with the vocal narration of Korin Pino (Arturo Martínez) who sings of the importance for those who visit to learn about the work and experiences of his community.
The second vocal sequence is rendered by his wife Pekon Jisbe (Celia Panduro Silvano) who narrates the relevance of her hands and creative intelligence to make the designs that appear in her artisan crafts.
The last sequence is sung by Sanken Yaká (Lily Sandoval Panduro) as she begins to describe the place where the recording was taken- a natural paradise known as the Canary Islands. She sings from the heart with a vocal range that expresses her happiness, like an emotional joy that knows it will be heard by others.
Through the artist’s journey and research, the implementation of traditional sound instruments for his recording gives a heightened relevance to the Shipibo-Konibo musical tradition in the historical present. GhostHorse can be heard playing fruit capsules, calabaza rattles, ceramic vessels, and the paca ati; an aerophone made from bamboo. Other layered aspects include the revival of their ancestral welcome call played by a tampora- an excavated trunk with a cylindrical double-headed membranophone.
A special thanks to Pecon Quena and Sanken Yaká, for being the link to their beautiful Shipibo-Konibo community, its tradition, and its nature.
*Original field recordings by Carlos De la Cruz from the Masisea Community, Ucayali, Peru.
Purchase this track on our bandcamp page.
BIOGRAPHY | Ghosthorse
GhostHorse is the culmination of a project formed by Carlos De la Cruz (Lima, Peru) that seeks to permanently explore diverse auditory experiences. Minimalism predominates in his sessions and productions, which aim to tell stories and allow listeners to reinterpret them. A DJ since 2010 and sound artist since 2014; belonging to the underground minimal music scene in Peru, he has released different EP's on labels around the world and collaborated with Peruvian projects. He has an alternative project with Gabriel S. of disco/funk music that seeks to revive; through DJ sessions with vinyls and edits, what was musically lived in the decades of the 70's and 80's. In 2021 he was part of the project "Todos los faros de la costa peruana" (All the lighthouses of the Peruvian coast) by Luz María Bedoya; interpreting a score based on symbols. Currently, he is on a continuous journey through Peru in search of capturing soundscapes and interpreting ancestral instruments.
