Ngöbe-Buglé Man with Pipes
When there’s a town festival nearby it’s common for Panama’s indigenous tribes to join in the celebration. The Ngöbe-Buglé people, who live in western Panama, look forward to the party at Boquete’s annual La Feria de las Flores y del Café (Flower and Coffee Festival), held for about a week every January.
While we were at the festival in 2013, we heard a windpipe and followed the sound of the flute to the town square. There we found a Ngobe-Bugle man wearing a Native American warbonnet and entertaining the crowd with his music.
I wish I had thought to record it; all I have to remember him by is this photo. His expression is my favorite part of the photo; his eyes are smiling at someone who had just complimented him for his talent.
The Ngöbe–Buglé are actually a union of two indigenous peoples of western Panama, the Guaymí (Ngöbe) and the Bokota (Buglé). They live in and around the Ngöbe–Buglé comarca (reservation), which was created out of Panama’s three westernmost provinces (Bocas del Toro, Chiriquí and Veraguas).
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