The Rituals of Orekotón and the Aguinaldos Pemón – the System of Appropriation in Pemón Music (Gran Sabana/Venezuela)

Abstract

With the help of two examples the system of appropriation in Pemón music will be discussed. The process is characterized by the transformation of the outside music and its function to “influence” the sound structure as well as the cosmology of an Amerindian group, located in Gran Sabana between Venezuela, Brazil, and Guyana. First a song will be analyzed which has its origin in influences of Anglican missionaries. It was recorded with the title “Areruya” by a German anthropologist named Theodor Koch-Grünberg in 1911 among the Taurepán (Pemón). Actually, the songs of “Areruya” and also “Cho'chiman” formed the rituals of Orekotón. They reflect the identity of a large number of people belonging to these this Amerindian group. A second example illustrates the theme of aguinaldo pemón, emphasizing similarities of recent appropriation and transformation of Venezuelan aguinaldos into aguinaldos pemón. The process has its motif in Pemón cosmology which is charac- terized by the interaction between humans and non-humans. This point of view is instrumental in understanding why an appropriation of the intruders' music (non-Pemón) is necessary to contact the spiritual agencies of the others to strengthen their own spiritual force.