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170interesting and sometimes unique traditions of polyphonic singing. According to Cohen:“The general Q’ero musical aesthetics allows different pitches, texts, and rhythms tosound at the same time. Though the Q’ero sometimes sing in perfect unison, their songsare structures to be sung individually. There is no sense of choral singing or harmony. Afamily, aullu, or community may be singing and playing the same songs at the point ofstarting and stopping. Yet the melodies sung at communal occasions have a sustainednote at the end of a phrase, permitting the other singers to catch up and share thisprolonged duration, which serves as a drone. When the new verse starts, the heterophonybegins anew” (Cohen, 1998:230).Cohen describes the singing of women during the Palchasqa festival amongQ’eros (held during February or March): “… several families join together outside andthrow flowers ( pa lcha) at the alpacas while singing and playing pinculu. Five or morewomen sing at the same time, interspersing ritual phrases with complaints about theirdaily lives. Each tells her own story in song. At times, the musical texture consists ofdifferent people singing personalized songs simultaneously. Only occasionally do theymeet on ritual phrases or on final notes” (Cohen, 1998:228). Another interesting traditionis the big family singing sessions with the elements of drone polyphony: “twenty peoplemay be packed together inside, drinking, singing heterophonically, with conch trumpetsblasting. Sometimes, late in the night, the individual qualities become less apparent aspeople find accord between them, reaching a degree of musical consensus. At this point,the sustained final note of a phrase provides a drone beneath the individual voices.Occasional multi-part texture occurs, and the whole event takes on a choral sound” (Ibid,229). Another interesting tradition of big communal singing happens during the carnival,where few groups of women sing in disregard of each other, together, while men play themusical instrument pinucllu. Cohen notes the closeness of this tradition to the celebrationsinging tradition of Amazonian Indians (ibid, 229).The Warao from the eastern Venezuelan tropical forests of the Orinoco RiverDelta have very important ritual singing by shamans for curing. In particular, if thepatient is an important person, singing in small ensembles (duets or trios of shamans) isrequired and it “results in a complex, multi-part texture like a free round.” (Olsen,1998:184).Indians from the Amazonian region of Peru are known for heterophonicsinging. “Two-voice polyphony in intervals of fourths and canonic singing have alsobeen observed” (Pinilla, 1980:384, cited from Romero, 1998:482). Rounding off thetropical-forest region of South America, A. Seeger notes that “most Indian music isassociated with ritual; it has little harmony or polyphony, and what polyphony it has isunfamiliar to unaccustomed ears” (Seeger, 1998:135).Interaction between the Christian missionaries and the Native American cultureswas quite unidirectional – the missionaries “forbade traditional music and ceremoniesand restricted musical activities” (ibid, 131). Later, missionaries of certain protestantsects intensified the process, some with such success that hymns are the only musicperformed today in certain tropical-forest Indian communities. Singing hymns may takeunusual directions, however, as among the Waiwai, where communities compete bycomposing hymns.With few exceptions, the music of the Christian church and traditional music ofthe Indians have apparently not mixed: the tunes for Christian services are hymns, and