Originally published in 1987, Why Suyá Sing? acquired a new US edition in 2004. Despite constituting a theoretical and ethnographic landmark in the fields of indigenous ethnology and anthropology of music, Seeger’s book has yet to be translated into Portuguese. This essay offers a reading of the work, looking to resume some of its key points, along with a brief overall contextualization of the studies on Gê peoples, and a short note on some of the recent developments in the research on indigenous music in the South American lowlands.
Gê Peoples; Anthropology of Music; Indigenous Music; Recent Studies