Main content

Mateo the memory keeper

Mateo Sobode Chiqueno is from Paraguay's indigenous Ayoreo people. For decades, as their way of life has come under increasing threat, he's been recording them on a tape recorder.

Mateo Sobode Chiqueno is from Paraguay's indigenous Ayoreo people. Hunter-gatherers who have roamed the forests of Paraguay for many centuries, the Ayoreo were first targeted by Catholic, and then Evangelical missionaries who forced them to move into settlements. Mateo himself was orphaned at just 13, shortly after his family were taken out of the forest. Life in the missionary settlements was hard, but Mateo never gave up on his Ayoreo connections, for which he was eventually cast out by the priests. But he'd already seen how the missionaries used tape recorders to document their work, and realised he could do the same: for 40 years he's been recording Ayoreo songs, language, stories and rituals on cassettes. 鈥淚n the forest there was everything,鈥 he remembers sadly: the Ayoreo now face an onslaught of deforestation, but Mateo's cassettes are seen as a vital link to a threatened culture. (This episode was first broadcast in June 2022)

Presenter: Laurence Blair
Producer: Santi Carneri, Laura Thomas & Gaia Caramazza

Get in touch: outlook@bbc.com or WhatsApp +44 330 678 2707

(Photo: Mateo Sobode Chiqueno. Credit: Santi Carneri)

Available now

27 minutes

Last on

Mon 5 Feb 2024 03:32GMT

Broadcasts

  • Sat 3 Feb 2024 05:32GMT
  • Sat 3 Feb 2024 11:32GMT
  • Sat 3 Feb 2024 19:32GMT
  • Sun 4 Feb 2024 00:32GMT
  • Sun 4 Feb 2024 09:32GMT
  • Sun 4 Feb 2024 22:32GMT
  • Mon 5 Feb 2024 03:32GMT

Contact Outlook

Contact Outlook

Info on how we might use your contribution on air

Podcast: Lives Less Ordinary

Podcast: Lives Less Ordinary

Step into someone else鈥檚 life and expect the unexpected