Many thanks to: Dannii Guest, London college of Communication International team
and LCC Photography/Lens based Technology.
Wampís of Guayabal & Aboutface - Los Bosquesinos (People of the Forests)
Upcoming collaborative album funded by Help Musicians to be released Aug 2024.
An inter-cultural collaboration with the indigenous Wampís forest
community in Peru: exploring the evocative aural terrain of the
Rainforest and the traditional nampet songs of the Wampís.
Gatefold carbon-neutral bio-vinyl manufactured by Deepgrooves.
Distributed by Rubadub Worldwide.
All proceeds from this release will support the Wampís to protect their precious rainforest territory.
During a month living with the Wampís in the Amazon Rainforest, Aboutface and the Wampis community collaboratively identified and captured field-recordings, along with Wampis traditional Nampet songs – ancient songs sung from the perspective of animals living in rainforest.
These recordings then informed 4 improvised performances to articulate the story of 4 traditional Nampet songs, sung from the perspective of each animal:
1. Kutuir (Parrott)
2. Wancha (Fish)
3. Manchi (Locust)
4. Pinchinchui (Hawk)
Release date: 2nd Aug 2024
The Wampís are the first Indigenous community in Peru to create their own autonomous government to aid their role as ecological conservationists, protecting their 1.3 million hectares rainforest territory that is continually under threat from outsider deforestation (Balzani Lööv and Da Silva, 2017).
Peru’s Amazon Rainforest absorbs the equivalent annual energy for 6.2 million homes in the USA, (EPA, 2015), and globally, tropical forests as biomass carbon sinks sequester 13% of all worldwide anthropogenic carbon emissions, maintaining the vital carbon balance in the global terrestrial biosphere (Brienen et al., 2015). The trees within these globally important forests appear to be experiencing increasing mortality rates, but the cause of this decline can only be speculated due to a lack of research opportunities (McDowell et al., 2018).
Indigenous communities who act as rainforest guardians increasingly aware of the global ecological impact of their local conservation (Sobrevila, 2008). Biodiversity decline in indigenous controlled territories remains at a slower rate, however indigenous-led conservation initiatives are becoming increasingly under pressure and require support (IPBES Global Assessment Report, 2019).
Therefore this ongoing collaborative project aims to assist the Wampís in preventing acts of Ecocide in their precious rainforest territory, which threatens the welfare of global biodiversity (Rodríguez & Vega, 2022).
Habitat destruction and embodied toxicity (water system poisoning) caused by the illegal harvesting of natural resources, is rife in their forests, and claims many Wampis lives each year as they try to protect their sacred forests.
All proceeds from this album will be placed into a Los Bosquesinos fund, to be only used to support Wampís-led eco-initiatives to preserve their territory and cultural heritage, which is intrinsically linked to conservation– how the funds will be spent will be decided by Wampís local and governmental leaders only.
This album is the first part of a wider co-produced project and upcoming SEDarc funded PhD co-research project titled The Nature-Culture-Climate-Contiuum (2025) which will co-investigate the potential of soundscapes for exploring forest and biodiversity conservation (Ecoacoustics), along with supporting cultural resilience and environmental justice through the co-collection and creative application of rainforest acoustic data (sound recordings). This approach will include using acoustic data to monitor biodiversity health, geo-locate illegal deforestation and develop just, resilient and sustainable territorial conservation strategies.
Album Credits
Featuring sacred Nampet songs by Elizabeth Huampankit Najamtai:
Wancha (Fish)
Kutuir (Parrott)
Pinchichi (Hawk)
And songs by Fernando Ijisam Tsakim and Edilberto Ijisam Tello:
Manchi (Locust)
Afaninga (Snake/Serpent)
Additional percussion and music by Guayabita:
Fernando Ijisam Tsakim, Edilberto Ijisam Tello, Larry Tello Huampankit, Jose Luis Cahuata Pipa, Tedy Tello Cahuata, Heyner Tello Cahuata, Eli Artista Antonio, Never Tello Huampankit
Rainforest Field-recordings located and collected by The Wampís go Guayabal and Aboutface.
Guitar, flutes and electronics by Aboutface.
Violin by Taro.
Full project description at the bottom of the page, along with associative thesis: 'The Nature-Culture-Climate Continuum:Intercultural collaboration as an effective method to influence anthropogenic behavior in a time of global climate crisis.'
In collaboration with charity Size of Wales
Collaborators and support:
Carlos ‘Canti’ Saldana – Peruvian musician from Lokandes -
Shapiom Noningo Sesen of the indigenous Wampis Nation, Peru.
Dr Barley Norton - Goldsmiths University
Dr Fiorella Montero Diaz - Keele University
The London College of Communication (UAL)
Freerotation electronic audio/visual music festival
