The flute tyopïx of the Chiquitano

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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 tyopïx, tyoopïx, topüs or topurr, also known as requinto or requintada: a transverse flute of very limited use, which is currently in the process of disappearing.

It is made up of a pipe which includes two segments of thick bamboo cane (bokimia), sometimes a little bit twisted, about 2.5-3 cm in diameter and 90-100 cm long (generally the same length as the outstretched arm of the interpreter). The proximal end is kept closed by a natural knot, while the distal is left open. It has a mouthpiece and two square or, more rarely, circular fingering holes, located very close to the distal end, and about 80 and 85 cm from the proximal.

   [Video. From YouTube user Yerko Amilcar Villarroel M.]

Much of the information about its construction, its use and its repertoire has been lost. Some pieces of oral tradition state that it was played between July and October, on the dates of the maize harvest. Others point out that its name would mean "chaqueo time", that is, the time for felling in the jungle, and that it would have been used to warn of falling logs, or even as a farewell to trees that had just been felled.

With the flutes that have survived to this day, three notes can be obtained in an interval of a second (eg fa-fa#-sol).

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: 09.10.2023.

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