Skip to main content

YANKUAM

Menu

Workshops

As part of Nanki Experience, our workshops offer immersive spaces to connect with ancestral wisdom, Amazonian craft, and Latin American musical heritage. Designed as interactive, hands-on encounters, each session creates a dialogue between traditional knowledge, artistic expression, and contemporary understanding.

Yankuam: Interactive Encounter with Shuar Culture

A participatory experience to connect with Shuar culture through voice, objects, language, and dialogue.

This encounter offers an opportunity to discover aspects of the Shuar culture from the Ecuadorian Amazon through a welcoming and interactive dynamic. It is not structured as a conventional lecture: attendees engage directly with stories, words, materials, and cultural objects, with continuous opportunities to observe, ask questions, and converse throughout the session.

Experience Content

  • Introduction to Shuar territory, identity, and key elements of the language.

  • The relationship between community, nature, and the transmission of knowledge.

  • Direct engagement with cultural objects, materials, and expressions.

  • Shuar words and concepts, and their transition into Spanish and other cultural contexts.

  • The history and purpose of Verein Yankuam as an intercultural bridge.

  • Open Q&A and dialogue with participants.

Practical Information

  • Duration: Approx. 90 minutes

  • Format: Interactive, intercultural, and educational

  • Target Audience: Anybody interested in language, culture, and intercultural studies

  • Prerequisites: None required

  • Price: CHF 35.- per person (min 15 participants)

Shuar Handcrafts with Amazonian Seeds

Creating with your hands to discover materials, traditional knowledge, and forms of expression from the Amazon.

A hands-on workshop offering an introduction to Shuar craftwork using Amazonian seeds and materials. Participants get to know the materials and their context, crafting a simple piece guided throughout the entire process.

Workshop Content

  • Presentation of the seeds and materials to be used.

  • Explanation of their origins and their role in traditional craft making.

  • Demonstration of the selected technique.

  • Guided creation of a handcrafted piece by each participant.

  • Conversation about nature, creativity, identity, and the transmission of knowledge.

Practical Information

  • Duration: Approx. 90–120 minutes

  • Format: Hands-on, creative, and cultural

  • Materials: Provided by Verein Yankuam

  • Outcome: Each participant takes home the piece they created

  • Prerequisites: None required

  • Price: CHF 59 per person (min 8 participants)

Construction and Playing of the Traditional Siku

From bamboo to sound: construction, listening, and collective musical practice.

A technical and cultural workshop dedicated to the siku, a traditional Andean wind instrument. Participants explore its structure and acoustic principles, construct an instrument using pre-prepared bamboo tubes, and take part in a collective musical practice.

Experience Content

  • Introduction to the instrument and its Andean musical context.

  • Assembly of the siku using pre-tuned bamboo tubes.

  • Alignment, securing, and binding of the instrument.

  • Basic sound production and breath control techniques.

  • Collective practice of a musical piece, exploring musical interplay and coordination among players.

Practical Information

  • Duration: 90 minutes

  • Format: Technical, hands-on, and musical

  • Materials: Building kit provided for each participant

  • Prerequisites: No prior knowledge of music or instrument making required

  • Takeaway: Each participant keeps the instrument they built, along with supporting educational materials

  • Price: CHF 69.- per person (min 8 participants)

Andean Guitar and Singing

Experiencing the Spanish language through music and collective singing.

A participatory workshop offering an introduction to huayno through acoustic guitar and singing. Participants briefly explore the genre’s cultural and musical context and work on a selected piece using basic chords, rhythm, lyrics, pronunciation, and vocal practice.

Experience Content

  • Introduction to huayno as an Andean musical and poetic genre.

  • Learning three basic chords for the selected piece.

  • Practice of rhythmic patterns: arpeggio and strumming.

  • Reading lyrics, pronunciation, and singing.

  • Final guitar and vocal ensemble performance.

Practical Information

  • Duration: 90 minutes

  • Format: Musical, linguistic, and participatory

  • Requirements: Participants wishing to play must bring an acoustic guitar

  • Technical Equipment: Projector for chords and visual materials

  • Price: CHF 39.- per person (min 10 participants)