Resonant paths
Mauricio Rivera Henao
Colombia
The listening piece Resonant paths is proposed as a reflection on the visual hegemony of the paints of the yajé plant, (images emerging from the ceremony of ayahuasca or yajé). The popularization of paints as a way of recognizing the culture of the plant, is part of the cultural extractivism of which it has been a victim since the eighteenth century, which unbalances the multi-species relationships between human and non-human people involved in it and its environment. The sound work is presented with the aim of preserving the power of orality and listening in the tradition of yajé; of its power in the creation of the paintas well as the human-plant relationship in its planting, harvesting and ceremony, since it is the orality of the knowledgeable people that generates the interaction with the plant, its territory and its people.
The research and creation of the sound work is developed from yajé healing ceremonies, performed in the south and center of Colombia, in which I have participated as an assistant in the harmonization of the people present and as an artist. Resonant paths is part of the third album of acoustic ecology in production process. The listening piece brings together yajé songs, wind instruments and percussion, to present one of the moments of the ceremony: calling the spirits of the yajé cielo and yajé curí, for the cleansing of the participants and the celebration of healthy relationships for the care of the environment.
The work was recorded with the MAGMA hydrophone and contact microphone, and is a variation of the listening piece entitled Contact paths published in the album MAGMA - Vibrant Matter, VIC NIC record label. Aveiro, Portugal. 2024.