Drum’s mouth

FERNANDO URBINA RANGEL

Summary
Grandpa Kïma Baijï, a famous healer, is witched and becomes ill. And It turns out that he does not know how to heal himself. Even so, he has to leave his maloca (house) to bring food to the rubber factory where his tribe is forced to work, deep in the Amazon jungle. In his way, he meets ‘Tïzi’, the Skeleton-Man, a fearsome and powerful spirit who, in exchange for a bit of mambe and ambil, heals him and also reveals the secret to a good hunt. Entering his dreams, Tïzi warns him that he must not catch more than five partridges each night; otherwise a misfortune might befall Grandpa.

Written by Fernando Urbina Rangel, an expert in Amazonian mythology and indigenous art, this book is based on a story by José García, one of the wisest of the Muinane people. In these pages we find indigenous thought, customs, beliefs and, with more emphasis, their relationship with the spirits of nature, on which the balance of life depends. The story takes place at the time of the rubber plantations, whose exploitation and slavery system almost wiped out the ethnic groups that inhabit the Colombian-Peruvian Amazon, between the Caquetá River and the Putumayo River.

Illustrated by the artist Santiago Cubides, this book includes an illustration index that will allow the reader to discover the meaning of the elements present in the vivid images, made in colored pencils, that accompany the story.

Data sheet
Category: illustrated book for young readers
ISBN: 978-958-52751-9-5
Publication date: 15/04/2022
Extent: 52
Format: 23.5 x 23.5 cm

|« Back to publisher

Next book »|

Author´s biography

Fernando Urbina Rangel (Pamplona, 1939). He was born in Pamplona, Colombia, in 1939. He obtained a degree in Philosophy from the National University of Colombia in 1963 and from that same year he taught at that institution until 2004. Researcher of Archaic Thought (mythology and cave art), Professor Urbina has carried out 40 field works among indigenous communities, is the author of eight books and innumerable articles that have been published in books and academic journals. Fernando is also a photographer and poet. His photos around indigenous cultures have been exhibited in more than 26 individual exhibitions. With his poetry, also inspired by indigenous culture and mythology, he has participated in numerous recitals on radio and television. He received the Medal of Merit from the National University of Colombia in 1995, and the Alfonso López Pumarejo Award in 2012, from the same University, for his scientific and academic merits.