ICARO, South American Indigenous and mestizo term for a medicinal or magic song typically performed by singing, whistling, or playing a wind instrument like a flute or didgeridoo. The word ikaro comes from Quechua, an Indigenous language family that originated in present-day Peru and spread across South America. The etymology of the term is contested. Scholar Luis Eduardo Luna writes that ikaro is derived from the verb ikaray, which means “to blow smoke in order to heal.” But ethnomusicologist Bernd Brabec de Mori attributes its lineage to ikarutsu, meaning “to sing.”
Icaros are used in shamanistic rituals practiced by communities in the western Amazon Basin located across present-day Peru, Brazil, and Colombia and often involve the psychoactive plant-based brew ayahuasca. Performing an icaro is believed to have tangible effects on the material world, as practitioners understand icaros to embody the healing properties of the plants they are communing with. The songs can come to shamans in dreams or ceremonies and are often passed down from generation to generation. Icaros are said to have three primary purposes: to facilitate the shaman’s “calling” of spirits, to endow regular objects with special powers, and to modulate the visions induced by ayahuasca.