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The hallucinogenic music of the Shaman: Ethiological Unit of Healing.


Pages: 32 - 71

Abstract

The hypothesis that has been attempted to demonstrate in this article is that the tiwanaku flute was just a part of a shamanic arsenal consisting of hallucinogens such as ayahuasca, cocaine, anadenanthera (and its active agent, bufotenine) and the flute itself or some other type of aerophone and/or idiophone. The Tiwanaku flute that the author found in the San Pedro de Atacama Archaeological Museum (Chile), played this role. The ajuar found in Coyo 1 coincides with the period of splendor of Tiwanaku culture and the widest expansion. This expansion brought the practice of shamanism to the oasis of St. Peter. Another important conclusion of this study is that the tiwanaku flute involves a pentaphone scalar system by tones, currently missing from collective ritual music of the Central and South-Andean area. Apparently there was a direct relationship between Shamanic music and tone modality. This is due to the disappearance of this scalar system from the traditional Quechua/Aymara area. Along with the disappearance of Shamanic practice as an official religion, the scalar system disappears.