The production of a sound collection documenting the ritual and daily songs of the Awá Guajá represents a milestone in the appreciation and preservation of the cultural heritage of this recently contacted people, who inhabit the Alto Turiaçu, Caru, and Awá Indigenous Lands, as well as groups in voluntary isolation in Araribóia, all in Maranhão. Owners of a very unique way of life and a strong connection to the forest, they have created a unique work – *Karawa Janaha: The Song of the Karawara* – which records and describes the Awa Guajá vocal art and translates songs into the language of the celestial hunters, the Karawara.
On June 13th, the work will be launched at Armazém do Campo in São Luís, starting at 17 p.m., with a performance by 12 Awa Guajá singers. Simultaneously, 99 songs will be available on streaming platforms such as Spotify and YouTube Music.
An interesting aspect of the songs (janaha) is that they are not sung in the everyday language of the Awa Guajá, but rather in the language of the Karawara. Each Karawara has a unique identity (Makaro, Arapioxa'a, Makaratõ, Wawarakawỹ, etc.) expressed through their song, their dance, and the animals they hunt or accompany them. They are celestial beings, ancestors, and perfect hunters who communicate with humans through song.
"It's not very common, but there are other cases of indigenous people in the Amazon, in Brazil, who speak what we call a kind of shamanic language. In fact, the lyrics of the song aren't the same as the spoken Guajá; it's almost a liturgical language, because the words used in the songs are different from the words used in everyday language," explains Uirá Garcia, an anthropologist and professor in the Graduate Program in Social Sciences at the Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP), who has known and researched the Awa Guajá for almost 20 years.
"It's another language that we had to learn from the Awá. The chant is intonation, but the vocabulary is different. They use elaborate vocal techniques and repetition as if it were a mantra. So, in the rituals, the repetition, the frequency, the forest, the many voices... You can enter a trance induced by music alone," reinforces Marina Magalhães, linguist, researcher, and professor at the University of Brasília, who has been studying and describing the Awa Guajá language since 2001.
Karawa Janaha is the result of a collaborative effort involving the linguist and the anthropologist, as organizers; the Awa Guajá singers from the Awá, Juriti, and Tiracambu villages; and Indigenous translators and illustrators, respectively: Amiria, Pinawã, Mimini'ĩa, Itaxĩa, Tatuxa'a, Inajã, and Warixa'a; and Arapioa, Irakaxi'ĩa, Kwarahyxa'a, and Xiwikwajỹa. The publication was printed in two volumes. Both contain texts by Marina Magalhães, Uirá Garcia, and the sound technician and ethnomusicologist, who recorded and mastered the songs, Yasuhiro Morinaga.
Volume I features a beautiful collection of photographs, signed by Morinaga; while Volume II lacks the complete collection of photographs, it does include translations of 104 chants into Portuguese. These chants were first translated from the Karawara language into the Awa Guajá language and only later from the Awa Guajá language into Portuguese. The printed version of Volume II will be primarily intended for schools in the Awa Guajá villages on the Caru and Awá Indigenous Lands.
streaming platform
Starting on the 13th, the songs will be available on streaming platforms. Three profiles will be available: Aldeia Awá, Aldeia Juriti, and Aldeia Tiracambu, divided by the origin of the Awa Guajá singers. Each profile offers its own "interpretation" of Karawa Janaha – The Song of the Karawara. Simply search, but below are the links to Spotify and YouTube Music.
Karawa Janaha – The Song of the Karawara 1 – in the Awá Village profile
Karawa Janaha – The Song of the Karawara 2 – in the profile of Aldeia Juriti
Karawa Janaha – The Song of Karawara 3 – in the profile of Aldeia Tiracambu
Culture and resistance
Awá Guajá chants are not merely artistic expressions; they are a form of communication between humans, nature, and entities known as the Karawara. During takaja (or "tocaia") rituals, Awá singers symbolically transform into these spirits, singing songs that evoke supernatural presences and activate processes of healing, protection, and connection with the cosmos. Men enter the takaja adorned with feather headdresses and bracelets, beginning a chant that, according to tradition, allows the Karawara to descend to Earth and the singers to ascend to Heaven.
The launch of Karawa Janaha also represents a political act of resistance. The songs have been performed in various Brazilian cities—Brasília, São Paulo, and São Luís—as a form of self-affirmation and the fight for territorial rights. In protests, meetings, and public hearings, Awá singers sing the janaha to call on the Karawara to protect the forest and strengthen the voice of Indigenous people.
Singer and president of the Arari Association, Ytatxi Guajá, learned to sing from his father well before he was 12 years old. "I've been singing since I was little. Singing is a source of joy for this person. Our singing is also for the spirit, for God, Tupan, who must watch over us. Our songs come from within us, and every time we go to a meeting or a demonstration, we show our true selves. Our songs are important to us, that's why we sing. And at the meetings, it's clear that the Awá people and their singers are still resilient," he states.
The Karawara Song is the result of collaborative fieldwork with the communities of the Awá, Tiracambu, and Juriti villages, as part of the Cultural Strengthening subprogram of the Basic Environmental Plan - Indigenous Component (PBA-CI), linked to the licensing of the Carajás Railway Expansion (EFC), run by Vale SA, with oversight from FUNAI and IBAMA. Implementation was led by the Institute of Society, Population, and Nature (ISPN).
"By recording and systematizing this collection, the Awa Guajá themselves reaffirm the value of their culture and the need for its transmission within and beyond their villages. The work is dedicated to the communities, who authorized its circulation as part of a collective effort toward preservation, teaching, and intercultural dialogue," says Suely Cardoso, technical advisor at ISPN and coordinator of the Cultural Strengthening subprogram of the PBA-CI.
Cássio Bezerra / ISPN Communications Office
