In the vast silence of Patagonia, where wind moves like a whisper across valleys and mountains echo with timeless solitude, there is one thing that carries both history and hope: song.
Not the kind polished in studios or performed on big stages, but the kind that lives in kitchens, in rituals, around fire pits, and on quiet trails. The kind sung by women.
Across southern Argentina and Chile, Patagonian women have used music to remember, resist, and reconnect. Their songs are more than melodies—they are oral archives, keeping language, identity, and emotion alive.
For travelers seeking deeper cultural immersion, following the musical trails of these women opens a door into a landscape that sings through its people.
The Role of Music in Patagonian Female Culture
For generations, music in Patagonia has been an act of:
- Memory preservation: keeping indigenous and rural stories alive.
- Healing: used in rituals and ceremonies to restore balance.
- Resistance: a subtle but powerful tool against colonization and cultural erasure.
- Community bonding: creating belonging in isolated territories.
Women, in particular, have served as:
- Songkeepers: remembering old songs even when their languages were forbidden.
- Healers: using chants (ül in Mapudungun) during ceremonies and life transitions.
- Poets and composers: transforming personal experience into collective emotion.
What Is a Musical Cultural Trail?
Unlike festivals or performances, musical cultural trails are immersive, slow, and personal. They often take place:
- In women’s homes, where traditional songs are taught through experience.
- During seasonal gatherings, like harvests or solstices, where music is integral to the ritual.
- On walking trails, where songs are sung at specific stops, invoking spirits, stories, or memories.
- In rural schools or cultural centers, where women lead intergenerational music workshops.
These trails are not passive—you are invited to listen, learn, and sometimes sing along.
Voices of the South: Key Musical Expressions of Patagonian Women
1. Ãœl and Mapudungun Chanting
In Mapuche communities, especially near Curarrehue (Chile) and JunÃn de los Andes (Argentina), the ül is a sacred chant passed from woman to woman. It’s not performed, but prayed through song.
Features:
- Usually sung a cappella in Mapudungun, often with eyes closed or facing east.
- Themes include cosmic balance, family lineage, protection, and water spirits.
- Women say they receive ül in dreams or during moments of deep emotion.
On a musical trail here, you might be invited to:
- Sit in silence while a woman sings to a mountain or river.
- Learn the rhythm and breathwork behind ül (not the lyrics, which are sacred).
- Reflect with the singer afterward, often over mate or fire.
2. Cantos de Cocina – Kitchen Songs in Rural Patagonia
In remote homes, especially in places like Lago Blanco or Trevelin, women sing while they cook. These are not formal songs, but melodic conversations with the past.
Examples:
- Lullabies turned into kneading rhythms.
- Toasting songs for seasonal breads or family feasts.
- Humorous couplets that preserve family lore.
These songs are often spontaneous and rarely written down. Participating in a cooking workshop along these trails means:
- Absorbing stories through sound.
- Being invited to add your own verse.
- Feeling music as a daily companion, not a performance.
3. Folk and Protest Music by Female Singer-Songwriters
Modern Patagonian women continue the tradition through guitars, poetry, and political voice. Artists like Ana Robles, Beatriz Pichi Malen, and Luciana Jury draw on indigenous, rural, and feminist themes.
Some cultural centers offer:
- House concerts in intimate spaces, followed by dialogues.
- Songwriting circles where locals and travelers co-create music.
- Workshops on socially engaged lyrics, rooted in land and loss.
Even when the words are new, the essence is ancient: the land sings, and women are the ones who know how to listen.
Places to Explore the Musical Trail
Curarrehue (Chile)
A center for Mapuche cultural revival, where music is used for both ceremony and education. Experiences include:
- Private ül sessions.
- Music and plant medicine combinations for healing.
- Night walks with storytelling and singing.
El Bolsón (Argentina)
Known for artistic innovation, El Bolsón offers:
- Feminist music collectives who blend folk, indigenous, and global styles.
- Trails where every stop includes a song related to the land’s energy.
- Music + art workshops where songs inspire paintings, weaving, or poetry.
Puerto Ibáñez (Chile)
This lakeside village is home to women who’ve preserved Aonikenk (Tehuelche) melodies once nearly lost. Here, you’ll:
- Hear rare songs in endangered languages.
- Learn how music is used to mark migration stories.
- Experience call-and-response style harmonies that mimic nature’s sounds—wind, birds, water.
The Sound of the Elements: Music as Environmental Connection
Many of the songs on these trails are not about nature—they are nature.
- Water is represented in long, flowing syllables.
- Fire is in staccato claps and snaps.
- Earth is in low, steady drumbeats or foot stomps.
- Air comes through whistling, breathwork, or flute tones.
Women use their voices as instruments of ecological resonance, tuning themselves to the elements.
Why These Trails Matter
At a time when oral traditions are disappearing, these musical trails serve to:
- Reclaim feminine space in soundscapes often dominated by men.
- Preserve languages and stories endangered by modernity.
- Heal trauma through collective rhythm and memory.
- Build cross-cultural bridges, where a traveler doesn’t need to understand the words to feel the truth in the music.
How to Participate Respectfully
- Don’t record unless explicitly invited. Many songs are sacred or emotionally intimate.
- Engage with your body—clap, move, hum, even if you’re shy.
- Support musicians directly by buying CDs, handmade instruments, or contributing to their workshops.
- Offer your own music—a song from your culture, a simple melody, a rhythmic story. Reciprocity is everything.
What You’ll Carry Home
From a musical trail in Patagonia, you may bring back:
- A tune that repeats in your mind while walking alone later.
- The memory of a voice echoing in a forest clearing at dusk.
- A deeper understanding of how sound is rooted in land.
- A realization that not all culture is visible—some of it is only felt, deep in the chest.
Because when a Patagonian woman sings, she doesn’t just sing for today. She sings for her grandmother, for her daughter, and for the mountains that taught her to breathe.
Leonardo e Raquel Dias are a couple passionate about travel, exploring the world together and sharing their experiences. Leonardo is a photographer and food enthusiast, while Raquel is a writer fascinated by history and culture. Through their blog, they inspire other couples over 50 to embark on their own adventures.