The flute natïraixh of the Chiquitano

Sketch 002

Home > Blog A Musician's Log > Sketch 002

The Chiquitano are a society indigenous to the lowlands of eastern Bolivia, with a population of between 40,000 and 60,000 individuals (the third largest in the country) distributed among the provinces of Ñuflo de Chaves, Velasco, Sandoval, Germán Busch, Ichilo and Chiquitos (department of Santa Cruz) and Iténez (department of Beni), as well as in three municipalities in the state of Mato Grosso (Brazil). Speakers of the Bésiro language (the fourth most used in Bolivia), they dedicate themselves to agriculture and work on local farms, and keep alive an important part of their identity as a community.

This society arose from the amalgamation of several indigenous ethnic groups, gathered in the Jesuit reductions that were established in the area starting in the 17th century. The Guaraní who accompanied the conquerors used the derogatory diminutive tapiï-mirí, "small slaves", to refer to these peoples. The Europeans simplified the term by calling them "chiquitos" — "little ones". The area they inhabited was since then baptized "Llanos de Chiquitos" or "Chiquitanía".

The Chiquitano have a wide and rich organological heritage, which includes the buxikia busúkïro: wind instruments. Among them is the natïraixh, natïraix or nateraish, also known as fífano (probably derived from the Spanish pífano, "fife") or, less commonly, purísima. It is a vertical flute with an internal airduct, which has seven fingering holes: six on the front and one on the back.

   [Video. From YouTube user Academia de Emprendedores]

The vertical flute with an internal aeroduct would have been introduced in the Chiquitanía by the Jesuit missionaries. Natïraixh is considered a male instrument and is used only at Carnival as a kind of "mediator" between the living and other entities (animals, deceased).

More information about this sound artifact can be found in the free-access digital book Musical instruments of the Chiquitano people (Wayrachaki Editora, 2017), accessible through the "In English > Publications > Digital books on music" section at Instrumentarium.

About the post

Text: Edgardo Civallero.

Publication date: 18.09.2023.

Picture: Flute natïraixh. In Musical instruments of the Chiquitano people.