The Ashéninka live in the Peruvian rainforest region known as the Gran Pajonal (Great Grasslands). In the 1980s they were renowned for their trade partnerships. Men called ayompari exchanged goods produced by the Ashéninka like the cotton tunics—termed kitharentsi—for munition, machetes, shotguns and record players of industrial manufacture. The trade system crucially interrelated original peoples inhabiting the vast region between and along the Perené, Tambo and Ucayali rivers. Since the ayompari depended on mutually trusting each other’s promise of procuring certain goods they would often develop an affectionate relationship and dedicate songs to one other. These songs were recorded by Manfred Schäfer in 1985 (see his publication Ayompari, amigos y el latigo edited in 2023).