:: Guayapabi Sewa Hitcha :: ::

Seeds    Sewa    Track    Saminchaq    Hitcha    Ceremony    Light

:: 2018 :: 45cm x 60cm :: Acrylics, Inks, Markers and Coca Mambe on Canvas ::

Throught the eight days of ceremonies, we sang many songs. One particularly memorable song had words in a mixture of the Muisca and Kogi languages, and which we sang repeatedly throughout our retreat. Its meaning was in some ways difficult and complex, because it packs it a great many ideas in a few short words. The Muisca word guayapabi calls upon the 'mother-father' (guaya, 'mother', pabi, vocative form of paba 'father') who is both an ancient Muisca ancestor and a living teacher, while the Kogi word sewa indicates a sacred agreement between the two parties, while the Muisca word hitcha means 'Earth'.

The last phrase, quhupqua pequa, is difficult to understand: it literally means 'seven tongues', and may refer to all the indigenous languages of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and the Andes region around Bogotá, or it may be a metaphor to mean the whole world. In any case, the image intended is that the singer calls upon the ancestor-teacher to witness a new sacred agreement that the singer vows to make, honouring the Earth and all its living beings: humans, animals, plants, ecosystem and the spirits.

guayapabi sewa hitcha, sewa hitcha, sewa hitcha
g
uayapabi sewa hitcha, sewa hitcha, sewa

sewa, sewa, sewa, quhupqua pequa
sewa, sewa, sewa, quhupqua pequa

This song was so beautiful and thoughtful, and it seemed to facilitate a connection with the forest around us as we sung it. This artwork is simply a visual representation of the song, with the guayapabi resolved into guaya, mother, and paba, father, standing in deep respect upon the sacred Earth. The sewa is signified both by their raised hands, and the hand emerging from the planet, and between them, a visionary eye denotes the consciousness we must develop and maintain to keep our planet in balance.

Guayapabi

Some of the artists in our group were asked to create a mural on a local school building near the village of Don Diego, several miles downstream from our Eco-Lodge. While doing this - helped by lots of children! - we often sang this song, and my artistic representation of the song found its way into part of the mural's imagery.

Don Diego Collaborative Mural

Agguaniles Mural, December 2017, Don Diego, Buritaca, Magdalena, Colombia.
Collaborators include: Liba Waring Stambollion, Numa Firefly, Li Lian Kolster, Madeline Lynch,
Bruce Rimell, Carlos Caban, Don Farrell, and all the children of the Muisca people.

 

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are copyrighted to Bruce Rimell and may not be reproduced in any form unless stated otherwise.