In May of 2012, Soundwalk Collective traveled into the heart of the Peruvian Amazon to document the ancient chanting rituals of the Ayahuasquero, the Master Shaman and practitioner of plant medicine. In this ritual, the shaman consumes a potent brew made from the Ayahuasca, a sacred vine of the Amazonian jungle, the “vine of the souls”. The brew induces a powerful psychedelic experience that causes visual and auditory hallucinations.
It is in this state that the Ayahuasquero conjures the “icaro” or magic song.
The icaro is more than song, it is a language through which the shaman communicates with the spirits of plants and animals of the jungle — he speaks through them and they sing through him. There are more than a thousand icaros, through which Ayahuasceros call on the spirits for healing, protection, or attack. Icaros can stun a snake, cure a bite, call the soul back to the body, make a sorcerer fall asleep. Icaros are “pure sound,” melodies abstracted so as to become intangible, to become air. In this intangible and most powerful form icaros allow shamans to swallow darts, visit distant planets, call the rainbow, and kill.
Blowing, rattling leaves and singing are synergistic modes of sound that are, at once verbal, unintelligible and abstract — elevating the song to something transcending language. This piece by Soundwalk Collective documents the ancient practice by inhabiting the Ayahuasquero’s soundscape where the icaros become a visceral, haunting, and consuming listening experience.
“Ayahuasqueros” is a radio essay by anthropologist Jeremy Narby, in collaboration with Francisco Lopez, featuring Victor Nieto and Ushamano Walter Martinez. It was ommissioned by Radio France Culture, mixed by Dug Winningham, and produced by Soundwalk Collective: an international sound-art collective, winner of several Audies for their soundwalks and a Dalton Pen award for the Ground Zero w/ Paul Auster. Since 2000 they “have been sonic nomads, embarking on journeys from the desolate land of Bessarabia to the desert of Rub al Khali. By exploring and documenting the world around them through its sounds, the Collective abstracts and re-composes narrative sound pieces through fragments of reality to form distinct audible journeys.”
“If 60’s Was 90’s” (1994 / 1:30 excerpt) Beautiful People
With the blessings of the Hendrix family and the record company, the band remixed Jimi’s “If Six was 9,” and other songs, into the album If 60’s Were 90’s.
Interviews with Merry Pranksters Mountain Girl (Carolyn Garcia) and Hardly Visible (George Walker); mixed with audio from the Prankster archives and other 60s esoterica. Produced for PRI Weekend America. (Above photo: courtesy of Zane Kesey.)
Yaneth Deyinara Garcia (center) and Sigifrido Najera (2nd from left), members of the drug organization “Cardenas Guillen”, are presented to the press at the headquarters of the Defense Secretary in Mexico City on March 20, 2009. (LUIS ACOSTA/AFP/Getty Images)
Miracle Draven was a homeless girl on the streets of Portland, Oregon. She recounts a day in her life as a crystal meth addict. Excerpted from a longer work (2005) at Stories1st.org. Aired on NPR Day to Day; by producer Dmae Roberts, “Miracle on the Streets” (3:27 mp3):
Hearing Voices from NPR®
048 Juárez, Mexico: City on the Border
Host: Scott Carrier of Hearing Voices
Airs week of: 2010-04-28 (Originally: 2009-01-28)
Four years of reports on life in the Mexican border-town of Ciudad Juárez, with poverty and corruption, with daily drug-cartel murders and military violence. Told by photographer/Juarez resident Julián Cardona, author Charles Bowden, and host Scott Carrier.
(Part 3 of 3) When people in Juarez, Mexico say ‘drug cartel,’ they mean not only street gangs, but also the government, the military, big business, small business, the upper, middle, and lower classes, the justice system, and the media. Aired on NPR Day to Day; by producer Scott Carrier, “Juarez: Crime More Powerful Than Government” (7:46 mp3):
This Hearing Voices series was produced by Julian Cardona, Scott Carrier and Lisa Miller; Edited by Deborah George; Translation and Research by Molly Molloy, research librarian at New Mexico State University- Las Cruces; Additional assistance from Erin Almeranti, Elaine Clark.
(Part 2 of 3) The Army invades the streets of Juarez, Mexico. Citizens die and disappear. And the military may be as guilty as the drug cartels. Aired on NPR Day to Day; by producer Scott Carrier, “Juarez: Street Gangs, Government Gangs” (7:46 mp3):
This Hearing Voices series was produced by Julian Cardona, Scott Carrier and Lisa Miller; Edited by Deborah George; Translation and Research by Molly Molloy, research librarian at New Mexico State University- Las Cruces; Additional assistance from Erin Almeranti, Elaine Clark.
(Part 1 of 3) Murders in Juarez, Mexico now number thousands per year. Photojournalists docuemnt each one. Is it true that “God has a purpose for this city?”. Aired on NPR Day to Day; by producer Scott Carrier, “Juarez: Shooting Crime Scenes” (7:47 mp3):
This Hearing Voices series was produced by Julian Cardona, Scott Carrier and Lisa Miller; Edited by Deborah George; Translation and Research by Molly Molloy, research librarian at New Mexico State University- Las Cruces; Additional assistance from Erin Almeranti, Elaine Clark.
“Mexico’s Red Days” by Charles Bowden in GQ on the escalating Juárez, Mexico murders:
The killings have the cold feeling of butchery in a slaughterhouse, and they are everywhere: done in broad daylight, on streets, in markets, at homes, and even in Wal-Mart parking lots. Women, children, guilty, innocent—no one is safe.
Hearing Voices from NPR®
. (Music: Tomoyasu Hotei & Ray Cooper and Buffalo Springfield “Expecting to Fly.”)
by Paul Kiernan (
) by Erica Heilman (
.
Miracle Draven was a homeless girl on the streets of Portland, Oregon. She recounts a day in her life as a crystal meth addict. Excerpted from a longer work (2005) at 
We’ve posted a new photo-essay by Scott Carrier and Julián Cardona, “
(Part 3 of 3) When people in Juarez, Mexico say ‘drug cartel,’ they mean not only street gangs, but also the government, the military, big business, small business, the upper, middle, and lower classes, the justice system, and the media. Aired on NPR 
(Part 2 of 3) The Army invades the streets of Juarez, Mexico. Citizens die and disappear. And the military may be as guilty as the drug cartels. Aired on NPR 
(Part 1 of 3) Murders in Juarez, Mexico now number thousands per year. Photojournalists docuemnt each one. Is it true that “God has a purpose for this city?”. Aired on NPR 
Oldie but goodie Paul Harvey cut-up (1:24