Sacred and Profane Music of the Ika

"The Ika (people) are a group of some two thousand native South Americans who live farming and weaving on the southern slopes of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, an isolated mountain mass in the north of Colombia. Each year at the end of June hundreds of Ika converge from the surroundings hills on the village of San Sebastián de Rábago; they come to celebrate the Fiesta de San Juan. Among them are barefoot old women who have carefully walked the tortuous mountain paths for days in order to participate in the festivities..."

Jim Billipp


"Los Ika (pueblo) son un grupo de aproximadamente dos mil nativos suramericanos que viven de la agricultura y el tejido en las laderas del sur de la Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, un macizo montañoso aislado en el norte de Colombia. Cada año, hacia finales del mes de julio, cientos de Ika llegan a la villa de San Sebastián de Rábago desde las colinas circundantes a celebrar la Fiesta de San Juan. Entre ellos hay ancianas descalzas que han llegado lentamente por los tortuosos caminos de la montaña para participar en las festividades..."

Jim Billipp

Track Listing

101	Chicote - Accordion (1) Arhuaco musician, Fiesta de San Juan, San Sebastián de Rábago, Colombia	00:59
102	Chicote - Accordion and Guacharaca (1) Arhuaco musicians, Fiesta de San Juan, San Sebastián de Rábago, Colombia	04:03
103	Chicote - Accordion and Guacharaca (2) Arhuaco musicians, Fiesta de San Juan, San Sebastián de Rábago, Colombia	05:36
104	Chicote - Accordion and Guacharaca (3) Arhuaco musicians, Fiesta de San Juan, San Sebastián de Rábago, Colombia	06:42
105	Chicote - Accordion (2) Arhuaco musician, Fiesta de San Juan, San Sebastián de Rábago, Colombia	03:36
201	Chicote - Harmonica and Narrative Ika Song (1) Cayetano Torres	04:24
202	Chicote - Harmonica and Narrative Ika Song (2) Cayetano Torres and Luís Villafaña	05:18
203	Sacred Ika Incantations and Commentary Don José de Jesus Villafaña	12:02