O Sopro do Rapé: The Song of the Hapé Blow

“O Sopro do Rapé” (the blow of hapé) is a song about the moment at the heart of every hapé circle: when one person blows the medicine for another. It is sung in Portuguese by Welber Marron, and it carries a second name, “Força do Rapé”, the strength of hapé.

The song

This recording by Welber Marron is shared on SoundCloud by Leila Cristina. It belongs to the family of medicine songs that are sung in Brazil around the hapé: short, repeating songs that anyone in the circle can learn and sing along with. It honours the blow itself, and the strength and focus it brings.

What the blow is

In hapé traditions the medicine is not simply taken. It is given. One person, usually someone experienced, uses a tepi, a V-shaped pipe, to blow the powder into the other person’s nostrils, one side and then the other. For taking hapé alone there is the kuripe, a smaller pipe that joins your own mouth and nose.

People who serve hapé describe the blow in different ways: softer or stronger, short or long, depending on the person receiving it and the moment in the ceremony. What stays the same is the intention. The blow is an offering from one person to another, given with respect and received in silence.

Who gives the blow

In the forest the blow is given by people who have learned it over years, often inside their own families and traditions. If you are new, receive it first from someone experienced before you try a tepi yourself. Our guide on how to use a tepi respectfully explains the posture, the breath and the care it asks for.

How to listen

Play this song while the circle prepares: as the tepis are cleaned and the medicine is poured into the palm. Let it slow you down before the blow, and sit with it afterwards, in silence.

Continue

• Kuripe or tepi: which and when
• What to expect at a hapé ceremony
• Tepis, the ceremonial applicators
• Nukini White Roses, a gentle blend
• All our medicine songs