In this thesis, I investigate the varied ways in which Upper Putumayo taitas, or shamans, understand and use sound in their ritual practice. Taitas perform sound laboriously for large periods of time and under strenuous circumstances during tomas de yajé, rituals that involve drinking yajé, a potent DMT-containing psychoactive brew made from local plant species. In this thesis I argue for the importance of understanding what taitas do – and shamanism in general – as a form of labor; in doing so, I propose a framework that permits theorizing the commodification of cultural practices that, although presently embedded in capital relations, still exist in imaginaries that place them in a distant pre-capitalist past. Sound production is an essential, deliberate part of a taita’s labor, particularly in ritual practice. It matters for taitas because it is an integral part of how they define and identify themselves; taitas also perform sound as a way of distinguishing their ritual practice from that of other taitas. Taitas also use sound to key frames and define context in order to help participants make sense of what they experience during the sensorially demanding tomas de yajé; sound helps participants experience the pintas – visions, hallucinations – produced by yajé while simultaneously reminding them that they are participating in a toma de yajé, aiding them in remaining grounded to the ritual place that taitas construct. Through sound, taitas construct a place that is to a large degree independent of material constraints. Taitas are able to recreate it anywhere they go by indexing Amazonia sonically. Finally, I argue for cosmopolitan listening, a way of listening that implies taking an ethical stance towards the human and non-human environments we encounter. Drawing from the particular case of tomas de yajé, I also raise broader questions about the ways in which non- verbal sound production constitutes a form of labor that can define place, context, and frames in more general situations, arguing for an understanding of sound as a way of not only negotiating with an environment, but oftentimes creating it.