05/23/99
A well-rounded primer about Santeria related material and its resources
Soul Force 101: Yoruba Sacred Music, Old World and New by John Gray © 1999
(john_gray@descarga.com)
"They threw a party for the gods, and the gods came."
- Iyalorixa, Salvador,
Bahia
In Yoruba religion, whether practiced in Ile Ife, Salvador, Bahia, La Habana
or the Bronx, music and dance have always been central. They are the
mediums which connect the physical world (aiye) of the living with the
supernatural world (orun) of the gods (orisha) and ancestors (egun). Oriki -
songs and praise poems to the orisha - act as activators, quickening the
senses of the faithful and opening a pathway for the orishas' divine energy
(ashe). Drumming helps shape the ceremony, channeling the orisha with their
special rhythmic signatures, and dance, as John Mason puts it, "is the
body's way of singing the praises of the orisha." These are the tools for
summoning the orisha; invitations to a party held on their behalf.
For those initiated or born into the religion these functions have always
been clear. However, for outsiders - scholars, missionaries, the police,
and others - the liturgical music of the Yoruba has long been a mystery and
among the religion's lesser studied aspects.
The Literature
Fortunately, some literature on the subject does exist. For example, those
interested in the West African side of the equation can seek out Akin Euba's
Yoruba Drumming: The Dundun Tradition (Bayreuth, Germany: Eckhard
Breitinger, Bayreuth University, 1990) which includes several chapters on
sacred drumming for both orisha and Egungun festivals in Nigeria, or Marcos
Branda-Lacerda's Kultische Trommelmusik der Yoruba in der Volksrepublik
Benin (Hamburg: Verlag der Musikalienhandlung K.D. Wagner, 1988) which
analyzes bata drumming for Shango and the Egungun in neighboring Benin.
New World traditions, Brazil and Cuba in particular, have inspired their own
body of literature. Although much of the Brazilian material is in
Portuguese and/or scattered between numerous book collections and journals
there are a few English-language authors who are worth looking for. These
include scholars such as Melville Herskovits, Alan Merriam, David Welch,
Morton Marks, and Gerard Behague. Each has built upon the work of the other
to construct a fairly comprehensive portrait of Yoruba ritual music as
performed in the candomble terreiros (temples) of Brazil's most African
city, Salvador, Bahia.
Sacred music traditions in Cuba have their own fairly substantial
literature, starting with Fernando Ortiz's five volume classic Los
Instrumentos de la Musica Afrocubana (Habana: Direccion de Cultura del
Ministerio de Educacion, 1952-55) (recently republished in two volumes by
Editorial Musical Mundana of Madrid) and Los Bailes y el Teatro de los
Negros en el Folklore de Cuba (Ciudad de La Habana: Editorial Letras
Cubanas, 1998, c1951). Both of these include transcriptions of performances
by the Havana olubata (master drummer) Pablo Roche, which have had a major
impact on bataleros here in the U.S. More recent studies include John
Mason's Orin Orisa: Songs for Selected Heads (Brooklyn, NY: Yoruba
Theological Archministry, 1992) and The Music of Santeria: Traditional
Rhythms of the Bata Drums by John Amira and Steven Cornelius . The
John Mason work is a compendium of some 550 orisha song texts, preceded by a
history of Yoruba sacred music traditions in Cuba. The introduction is
particularly helpful as it gives a clear overview of the social, historical
and theological functions of Lucumí (Yoruba) musical traditions. It also
provides the first chronology I have seen of individual drummers'
contributions to the history of the Ilu Aña (sacred drums). There is one
caveat though. In Orin Orisa, Mason uses modern Yoruba as his linguistic
reference point rather than the Spanish transliterations (e.g., Ayan for
Aña, shaworo for tchaworo, etc.) most people are familiar with. Since the
author is a leading figure in the so-called Yoruba Reversionism movement
which advocates the stripping of European elements (rituals, language, etc.)
from New World Yoruba traditions this is not a major surprise. However it
does make the text a challenge for those not versed in both Yoruba and its
Cuban counterpart, Lucumí.
The other title in this pair, John Amira and Steven Cornelius's The Music of
Santeria, is an excellent companion to the Mason work. Though principally
directed to musicians seeking an entree into bata performance practice, this
work offers much useful information for the general reader as well. The
first chapter is a history of bata drumming in New York, including a
discussion of master drummer Julito Collazo's contributions. The second
examines the make-up of the standard New World bata ensemble and its three
double-headed, hour-glass shaped drums - Iya, the mother drum; Itotele, the
middle drum; and Okonkolo, the smallest. The third looks at musical
structure and one of the other types of drum ensembles - drum and güiro -
used in New York santero ceremonies. The fourth, and final chapter, is
devoted to transcriptions of the series of rhythmic praises known as the Oru
del Igbodu (incitement of the Igbodu) or Oru Seco (unadorned drumming) which
is performed in the inner sanctuary of an Ile Ocha (orisha temple) in
advance of the main public section of a bembe (santeria ceremony). In this
cycle each of 22 major orisha are given tribute via the invocation of their
personal drum rhythms. For a clear rendering of these check out John
Amira's CD The Music of Santeria: The Oru del Igbodu
featuring Amira on Iya, Orlando Fiol on Itotele
and Joe DeLeon on Okonkolo. It includes all 24 of the main praise
signatures (or "llames") of the Oru together with variations that allow one
to clearly hear what the rhythms and ensemble should sound like.
For those with access to the Internet, Luis M. Nuñez's An Overview of
Santeria (URL: www.drums.org/djembefaq/v3b1.htm) and Drumming the Gods:
Selections from Traditional Santeria Drumming (URL:
www.iac.net/~moonweb/santeria/drum/toc.html) are both good general
introductions to santero music. Ian Scott Horst's two part Orishas in Music
(URL: ttp://members.aol.com/ilebaba/adeleke/music.html and
http://members.aol.com/ ilebaba/adeleke/music2.html) is a discography which
lists both traditional and popular recordings related to the orisha.
Literature devoted to the sacred dances of the Yoruba is even scarcer than
that concerning the music which is why Omofolabo S. Ajayi's new Yoruba
Dance: The Semiotics of Movement and Body Attitude in a Nigerian Culture
(Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 1998, 251p., $21.95 (pap) / email:
awprsp@africanworld.com) is so welcome. Although it includes only one
chapter devoted solely to sacred dance, a case study of the annual festivals
for Orisa-Nla (Obatala) and Shango, the whole work is of interest to anyone
at all interested in Yoruba ritual and performance. Four of the book's five
main chapters are devoted to case studies of festivals: the Ebi-Okosi of
Ijebuland, a festival of renewal marking the cleansing of the old year in
preparation for the new; the Obalogun hunter's festival of Ilesa; and the
Agbon dance of Ile Ife's Osara festival. In each case Ajayi explains the
religious, social or political background of the festival, followed by a
detailed (frequently day-by-day) account of the various stages the festival
and its celebrants must pass through. What makes each of these accounts so
vibrant is the wealth of ethnographic detail Ajayi supplies, a byproduct of
her long years of fieldwork in Yorubaland. The fact that she has a native's
fluency in the language probably helped a bit too. All in all, this is a
valuable glimpse into Yoruba cultural forms which the author acknowledges
are all too rapidly disappearing from contemporary Nigerian society.
The Big Drum or Nation dance of Carriacou, Grenada, although not
specifically a Yoruba tradition, bears remarkable similarities to many of
the festivals described by Ajayi. In fact, as Lorna McDaniel points out in
her recent book The Big Drum Ritual of Carriacou: Praisesongs in Rememory of
Flight (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1998, 198p., $39.95
(cloth) / Tel. 1-800-226-3822), hints of shared cultural inheritances
permeate the event.
Carriacou is a tiny eastern Caribbean island boasting a multi-ethnic
population of chiefly West African descent. The nine "nations" acknowledged
as ancestors to Carriacou's people include the Cromanti (Akan), Igbo,
Manding, Arada (Fon), Moko, Chamba, Temne, Banda, and Kongo. It is to them
that the Big Drum pays homage with its fusion of national dance repertoires.
The ritual's performers include three drummers, five to twelve
singer/dancers, and a chantwell (lead singer) who functions much as the
akpwon does in the Yoruba bembe tradition. In this context the chantwell's
function is to teach repertoire, introduce the songs, and spur on the
drummers and dancers during performances. Although the dance can be
performed as a cultural concert for tourists, a political celebration, or a
regatta show, it is, first and foremost, a fête for Carriacou's ancestors.
Thus it bears a strong commonality with Yorubaland's Egungun (ancestral
spirit) festivals. The major difference here is that the ancestors being
honored are thought to have "flown back to Africa" rather than maintaining
themselves as an ongoing local presence.
In the past each nation (Cromanti, Igbo, etc.) danced only to their own
songs. However as the function of the dance evolved, its repertoire grew to
include songs and dances of other nations. Various musical and ethnic
strains merged, resulting in the loss of specific national characteristics
and producing a creolized repertoire which now functions as a unifying
medium for entertainment, worship and healing across a broad cross section
of Carriacouan society.
McDaniel's stated goal in documenting this tradition is to preserve and
disseminate an early African ritual in the Americas. With this book she has
achieved that and more via a research paradigm fusing historical
ethnomusicology, linguistics, cultural anthropology, and history. Due to
the complexities of ritual events such as the Nation dance interdisciplinary
approaches such as McDaniel's are essential. Whether her model is the one
followed by future scholars only time will tell. In the meantime, I hope
that this work finds the broad readership it deserves among
ethnomusicologists, Caribbeanists and others interested in the ever evolving
ritual culture of the Afro-Atlantic world.
The Recordings
Old World Traditions
For many years recordings of Yoruba sacred music have been far more
difficult to find than written materials. Unfortunately, in the case of old
world Yoruba traditions, not much has changed. In fact, for the Yoruba of
Nigeria, William Bascom's 1951 field recording Drums of the Yoruba of
Nigeria (Smithsonian/Folkways; 1-800-410-9815; email: folkways@aol.com)
remains one of the lone examples. It covers igbin, dundun and bata drumming
from an Oyo religious festival. Of particular interest here are the five
unaccompanied salutes to Shango, Oya, the Egungun, Shapana (Obaluaiye), and
Eshu, each offering a brief snapshot of traditional Yoruba bata rhythms and
performance styles. Also of note are the similarities and differences
between the bata ensembles shown here and their New World counterparts. In
this instance the two lead drums, Iya Ilu (mother) and Omele (middle) are
held horizontally in front of the drummers and struck on the large head by
hand and on the smaller with a leather thong, while the small drum (Kudi) is
held vertically with the large head up and is struck with two leather
thongs. The performers in these ensembles also play while standing so that
they can accompany celebrants around the town, unlike Diaspora drummers who
keep their bata inside the Ile Ocha (temple) and perform while seated. To
hear more recent variants of this ensemble check out the 1996 release Yoruba
Drums from Benin, West Africa (Smithsonian/Folkways SF40440). This collects
field recordings from a 1987 trip by ethnomusicologist Marcos Branda-Lacerda
which focuses on sacred drumming (bata and dundun) for Shango, the Egungun,
and others, as performed in Benin. The bata ensemble here is made up of an
Iya (mother), Ako (middle), Omele Abo (female small drum), Omele Ako (male
small drum) and Eki (a double-headed drum similar in size to the Ako which
is held vertically with the large head up).
Yoruba Traditions in the Americas
In sharp contrast to this dearth of West African materials are the numerous
New World Yoruba recordings which have come out over the last few years.
One of the most recent and distinguished of these is the The Yoruba/Dahomean
Collection: Orishas Across the Ocean. This is the sixth volume
in Rykodisc's Library of Congress/Endangered Music Project which culls
little known field recordings from the Library of Congress' Archive of Folk
Culture. In this case the focus is on Fon and Yoruba sacred musics of the
Americas. The result is like tapping into a long-buried time capsule as
many of the 24 tracks included are among the earliest recorded examples of
Black sacred music traditions in Haiti, Brazil, Cuba, and Trinidad. Adding
to their historical importance is the fact that all of the songs come from
collections bearing significant ethnomusicological and ethnographic
pedigrees - Laura Boulton (Haiti, 1947), Melville Herskovits (Salvador,
Bahia, 1941-42 and Trinidad, 1939), Josefina Tarafa and Lydia Cabrera
(Matanzas and Havana, Cuba, 1957), and Juan Liscano (Cuba, 1940s). On most
selections the sound is surprisingly good which allows listeners to hear a
few of the ways in which African people have been able to maintain their
identities here in the Americas. A detailed CD booklet by Morton Marks
helps explain the religious and musicological backgrounds of the recordings,
as well as their historical significance.
The songs in this recording also offer some key primary source material for
historians of Yoruba tradition in the Americas. For example, the Herskovits
material, which was based on his study of the Ketu candomble houses of
Salvador, Bahia, now joins his earlier Library of Congress LP Folk Music of
Brazil, and a handful of other ethnographic recordings - Amazonia and
Afro-Brazilian Religious Songs (both on the Lyrichord label), and The
Discoteca Collection: Missao de Pesquisas Folcloricas (Rykodisc RCD10403),
as core documents of Afro-Brazilian tradition. Similarly, the
Tarafa/Cabrera and Juan Liscano recordings offer new insights into older
forms of Lucumí (Yoruba) and Arará (Fon) musics in Matanzas and Havana.
These in turn can now be compared with the recent flood of recordings
documenting Afro-Cuban sacred traditions of the 1960s and beyond.
Yoruba Traditions in Cuba (Matanzas)
Before discussing this group of recordings it is important to point out that
there are essentially two traditions of Yoruba sacred music in Cuba - one
based in the more rural, agricultural province of Matanzas, and another,
more urban one, in La Habana. Although both capitals, Havana and Matanzas,
are port cities, it is Matanzas which was home to the former sugar
plantations of the 18th and 19th centuries, and Matanzas which retains many
of the island's oldest religious and musical traditions. The performance
style usually associated with Matanzas is slower in tempo, less precise in
its ensembles and simpler in its rhythmic patterns than that of Havana, as
one can clearly hear on the 1995 release Sacred Rhythms of Cuban Santeria. Here the music
consists of four orus (cycles of drum rhythms and/or songs for the orishas)
from 1983-84 collected in the Ocha houses of Matanzas and Havana. The
first, an Oru de Igbodu for Yemaya, is played by the Matanzas bata ensemble
of Amado Diaz Alfonso. The second, an oru for Chango, is played by the
güiro (gourd) ensemble El Nino de Atocha. The third, also from Matanzas, is
an Oru para Todos los Santos performed by the bembe ensemble, Agrupación
Ara-Oko, while the fourth is an Oru para Todos los Santos done by the Havana
güiro ensemble San Cristobal de Regla. Each of the first three ensembles
share the Matanzas stylistic signatures cited above, while the lone Havana
group, San Cristobal de Regla, plays with a noticeably quicker tempo,
maintains a tighter ankori (chorus), and has more pyrotechnics in its
rhythmic approach. The excellent bilingual (English/Spanish) notes by
Olavo Alen Rodriguez help to contextualize the music, its history and
structure.
In 1996 U.S. audiences were treated to a first ever tour by Grupo AfroCuba
de Matanzas, one of Matanzas's premiere folkloric troupes. Now, some two
years later, we have a recording to commemorate the event - Raices
Africanas/African Roots. Amazingly, it is only their second full-length release,
despite a history which dates back to 1957. Since the previous recording,
Rituales Afrocubanos (Egrem), was a Cuban release, this will likely be most
people's first exposure to AfroCuba and the varied folkloric traditions of
Matanzas.
The first thing that strikes you about the group and this recording is the
breadth of AfroCuba's repertoire. Unlike most other folkloric troupes who
limit their repertoire to songs from the public segment of santeria
ceremonies, the Oru del Eya Aranla and various forms of the rumba, AfroCuba
covers the proverbial waterfront. They include not only the full range of
Lucumí traditions and instrumentation - bata, güiro, and bembe - but also
Iyesa, Arará, Palo, Brikamo, Abakua, rumba and their own special fusion
BataRumba, which combines the polyrhythms of the sacred bata with rumba's
secular tumbador. Since all of AfroCuba's members are members of leading
Matanzas cabildos (religious societies) and practitioners of the various
religious traditions they perform, they are able to avoid the stiffness
and/or staginess which sometimes plagues larger, better known, state
ensembles. The strength of the performances here also confirms that, despite
the age of the traditions being performed and changes in Cuban society,
these are still vital, living, traditions, not simply "folklore." Kudos to
Francisco "Minini" Zamora, Grupo AfroCuba's director, and the rest of this
talented ensemble for maintaining these traditions with such force and
devotion. Thanks also to producer Lisa Maria Salb, formerly of Caribbean
Music and Dance Programs, for helping to bring this music to a broader
audience.
Yoruba Traditions in Cuba (La Habana)
Switching to the Havana side of things we have Grupo Folklorico de Cuba's classic Toques y Cantos de Santos Volume 1 and Volume 2. According to
percussionist Bobby Sanabria in the latest Descarga catalog, this is a set of
mid-60s recordings by an early edition of the Conjunto Folklorico Nacional
de Cuba, Havana's leading folkloric ensemble. However the 1996 CD
re-release Musica Yoruba by Conjunto Folklorico has
virtually the same songs as Vol. 1 and is said to have been recorded in the
1970s. Whatever the case may be, the music here is outstanding. While no
personnel is listed, the unmistakable voices of Conjunto mainstays Lazaro
Ros, Felipe Alfonso and Zenaida Armenteros shine through accompanied by a
large and very strong chorus. The result is liturgical music of an
exceptionally high order. On the first volume are songs from the Eya Aranla
(Elegba through Obatala) performed by Ros, et al., while the second
includes a mix of Lucumí, Palo, Abakua, and rumba songs. The only drawback
is Cubilandia's unfortunate packaging. Not only are there no personnel
listings but the extremely brief liner notes fail to mention anything about
the recording itself, i.e. when it was done, by whom, what types of music
are included, and what the meanings of the songs are. Nonetheless, this is
essential music, particularly Volume One.
In the years since these recordings, Lazaro Ros, Cuba's greatest living
akpwon, has taken the music of the orishas all over the world - with
Conjunto Folklorico Nacional, the Cuban rock groups Sintesis and Mezcla and,
most recently, his own ensemble Olorun. It is with this group, an ensemble
of singers and drummers from Ros's home town of Guanabacoa, that Ros
collaborates on the first ever recorded song cycle for the guardian of the
crossroads, Elegua. Released in 1996, Songs for Elegua covers all of the major
praise rhythms and songs for Elegua - Lucumí, Arará, and Iyesa, performed in
Ros's distinctive nasal style. Following its release I was informed that
Ros would like to do several more song cycles like this for other orisha.
Let's hope that this one opens the way. For an even more recent example of
Ros's ability to carry the message of the orisha forward check out Chucho
Valdes & Irakere's latest recording Babalu Aye. This includes a 16 minute track dedicated to
the orisha of disease and healing, Babalu Aye (aka Obaluaye/ Omolu), and
combines traditional chants and drumming with synthesizers, horns and other
instruments. I find it both amazing and refreshing that someone so clearly
identified as a tradition bearer would be willing to engage in such a mezcla
of sacred and secular styles. Whether one judges it to be a success, or
not, is another question. Suffice it to say that this is not one of my
favorite Lazaro Ros recordings.
The final two all-Cuban releases are 1998's Santeria: Songs for the Orishas by Grupo Oba-Ilu and a 1996 title Vida y Muerte del Santero. The Oba-Ilu CD is the more
conventional of the two consisting of a straightforward rendering of songs
from the Eya Aranla performed by a Havana ensemble led by Mario Jauregui
(bata Iya), akpwons Lazaro Hernandez Junco, Pedro Pablo Martinez Campos, and
Marta Beatriz Galarraga Eiras. Female akpwons (lead singers) are a fairly
rare breed in Lucumí music so Marta Galarraga's strong presence on this CD
is perhaps its most notable feature, along with a song for Babalu Aye which
is performed a cappella with only hand clapping as accompaniment.
Unfortunately the CD liner notes leave out any real discussion of the group
and its background. An (English-only) CD booklet by Pedro Sarduy does
include the Patakines (orisha stories) for each of the deities saluted -
Eleggua, Ogun, Ochosi, Babalu Aye, Obbatala, Shango, Oya, Oshun, and Yemaya.
Vida y Muerte del Santero, on the other hand, is a bit more esoteric. Its
brief liner notes indicate that it is part of a project by the Casa del
Caribe, based in Santiago de Cuba, to document the various magico-religious
systems of Cuba - Santeria, Regla Congo, Vodu and espiritismo. In this
instance it focuses on the rituals and music which mark the stages of an
Ocha initiate's life in the religion, from birth (initiation, presentation
to the sacred drums, etc.) to death (ituto). Uniquely it devotes almost
half of its time to songs for the Egun (ancestors) and funerary music,
pieces rarely heard in public contexts. As with the Toques y Cantos de
Santos CDs there is no mention of who the performers are or what the meaning
of the individual tracks might be. Considering the fact that the Casa del
Caribe is a research institute and the CD is presumably intended for
research purposes it seems a little strange to leave out such critical
information. Maybe in the next pressing....
Yoruba Traditions in the United States
Outside of the Caribbean and Latin America Yoruba musics are a fairly recent
phenomenon. In the U.S., for example, consecrated bata drums (Ilu Aña)
weren't introduced until the late 1950s. In addition, the two men
responsible for bringing them, Cuban olubatas Julito Collazo and Francisco
Aguabella, only decided to remain here by chance. However, their decision to
relocate - Collazo to New York and Aguabella to the West Coast - would be
one of the major factors in the migration of Lucumí music to the U.S. For
nearly two decades it was their example, coupled with transcriptions from
Fernando Ortiz's books and occasional LP recordings, which would dominate
American drummers perspectives on the bata. Then, in 1980, with the Mariel
boatlift and the subsequent emergence of a new generation of Cuban master
drummers, things began to change. Approaches once thought sacrosanct
because of their connection to Ortiz or Collazo and Aguabella began to be
reinterpreted. The new Cuban arrivals showed alternate performance
practices for the bata repertoire and a refreshing willingness to teach
non-insiders, something not always found among the first generation of
bataleros. The results of this change can now be found in three 1996
releases, each a collaboration between a master Cuban drummer and his mainly
American-born disciples.
Spirit Rhythms: Sacred Drumming & Chants from Cuba by
Orlando "Puntilla" Rios is the earliest example of this new wave. Although
released in 1996, the music here is from a good, but not great, 1987 concert
featuring Puntilla and his ensemble Nueva Generación. Two lovely, mostly a
cappella, songs, "Aichara Icha" and "Maiseboa," start things off, followed by a
series of chants from the Eya Aranla performed with either bata or drum and
güiro accompaniment. Aside from a few ragged ankori (chorus) sections it is
a solid effort with a nice, intimate feel. In the decade since its
recording Puntilla has emerged as New York's leading batalero. On Emilio
Barreto's self-produced release Santisimo we get to see how far Puntilla, and his
influence, have come. While the personnel is similar to the one found on
Spirit Rhythms the chorus here sounds infinitely richer, fuller and more
precise. The batas of Puntilla (Iya), Pedro Valdez (Itotele), and Victor
Sterling (Okonkolo) are also clearer and more up front in the mix. Add to
this the stellar singing of the akpwon triumvirate, Emilio Barreto, Amelia
Pedroso and Puntilla, and you have a potential successor to Toques y Cantos
de Santo as a santero recording classic. Unfortunately the strength of the
CD is undermined by misleading and less than stellar packaging. A track by
track description of the song sequences, promised on the CD's back cover,
turns out to be only available by mail for an extra $5. For some reason
basic track listings have also been left off the booklet. When compared to
some of the excellent CD booklets mentioned above these shortcomings are
only magnified. Perhaps another label will pick this title up and redo the
packaging.
In the 1990s the West Coast has begun to see its own Lucumí renaissance with
groups such as Bill Summers and Iroko, featuring ex-Conjunto Folklorico
drummer Lazaro Galarraga. Ilu Orisha: Songs, Chants and Rhythms of the Bata is
their latest effort. This is an interesting recording which chooses to layer
songs from the Eya Aranla over the traditionally unaccompanied drum rhythms
of the Oru del Igbodu. The rationale for this, as Summers puts it, was "to
protect aspects of the music's spiritual purpose." Thus, we get an
"interpretive piece" rather than the strict traditional presentation found
on a CD like John Amira's Music of Santeria. The benefit of this approach
is that it helps to point up the close relationship between the rhythms of
the Igbodu and the songs of the Eya Aranla. A nice bonus is the CD's final
track, Se Alafia Ni, in which Summers pays homage to each of the major
orisha as well as a litany of great drummers - Esteban "Cha Cha" Vega,
Puntilla, Mongo Santamaria, Luis Bauzo, Milton Cardona, John Santos, et al.
Definitely worth seeking out.
Yoruba Fusions
This final set of recordings consists of a diverse group of non-traditional
efforts united only by their affection for New World Yoruba musical
traditions. The most conventional of these is a 1998 release titled Rezos y
Cantos Yoruba by Amurá. Since the liner notes offer no clue as to the
origin of the group or its background I can only guess that they are from
Venezuela, the country of origin for the record label. This is, in
essence, a theatricalized version of the bembe ceremony complete with a
narrator (Porfirio Torres), akpwon (Ruben Henriquez), bata ensemble and
chorus. Twelve tracks, each drawn from the Eya Aranla, are introduced by a
narrator who, with the assistance of atmospheric background music, details
the biography of each respective orisha. A brief spoken introduction from
the akpwon then segues into performances from the full ensemble. Since the
soloist and ensemble are competent but not very distinctive the CD remains
only a moderately interesting experiment.
Bata Ketu on the other
hand, a fusion opera from West Coast percussionists Michael Spiro and Mark
Lamson, is a gem of a work. Subtitled "a musical interplay of Cuba and
Brazil" its six acts attempt to "tell the story of Yoruba music uprooted
from Mother Africa, transplanted in Cuba and Brazil, evolving separately
over time, and then reuniting today." To convey this process Spiro and
Lamson utilize a number of different approaches. In some cases Lucumí
chants are sung over atabaque drumming from Brazil's Candomble tradition,
and in others Candomble chants are layered over bata drumming from Cuba. In
other instances two versions of the same song, one from each country, are
sung back to back, highlighting the similarities and differences of the two
traditions. Assisting in this endeavor are a vast array of percussive
voices both sacred (bata, atabaque) and secular (samba drums, berimbaus,
bird calls). Human voices are also well represented via Brazilian Jorge
Alabe who sings the Candomble songs and Bobi Céspedes who takes on the
Lucumí ones. Céspedes, a phenomenal singer best known for her work with the
Bay Area ensemble Conjunto Céspedes, truly distinguishes herself here. Her
phrasing is so strong and confident it kept reminding me of La Reina da la
Rumba Celia Cruz at her best. The dual coros and percussion sections are
also to be commended for their ability to navigate and fuse these distinctive
musical traditions. Let's hope that a smart producer hears this CD and puts
Bata Ketu on the road. Such a great tribute to orisha culture deserves to
be both seen and heard!
A collaboration between saxophonist Steve Coleman, his ensemble the Mystic
Rhythm Society, and Grupo AfroCuba de Matanzas, is not nearly as successful.
In fact, the CD which documents their exchange, The Sign and the Seal:
Transmissions of the Metaphysics of a Culture (BMG/RCA Victor 74321-40727-2;
www.bmg.com) is more like a noble failure. Coleman's intent seems to have
been a marriage of jazz, hip-hop rhythms, and Afro-Cuban folkloric musics.
Instead what emerges is a series of rapid-fire conversations in which all of
the participants speak but no real interchange takes place. This is
particularly apparent during the weak raps offered by Mystic Rhythm Society
member Kokayi. Almost uniformly the tracks consist of Grupo AfroCuba
playing their folkloric repertoire, both sacred and secular, while Coleman
and company simply improvise on top. In the liner notes Coleman states that
"this recording is about roots, about a common conception regarding how
music is created. It is the African idea of expressing the universe through
sound that forms the common bond here..." Unfortunately, the fact remains
that there is no one "Africa" and that collaborative efforts to resolve
aesthetic differences requires a lot more time than the month or two allotted
to this project.
Yemaya Suite, Sacred Songs of Yorubaland by Vancouver pianist Kathy Kidd offers a much more
rewarding experience. This 36-minute Latin jazz tribute to the female
monarch of the seas weaves together melodies from traditional praise songs
for Yemaya with some of Kidd's own material. In her arrangement clarinet,
trumpet and violin take the role of female voices, while trombone, tenor and
baritone saxes take on the male voices. Although a bata ensemble is
included, its role is minimized. My only complaint is that Kidd seems to
emphasize only Yemaya's gentle, maternal side, without any of the
counterbalancing tempestousness which is also her legacy. Nonetheless, this
release should be enjoyed by both jazz lovers as well as fans of Lucumí song
traditions.
Eighty-five year-old Chief Bey has long been a mentor to New York's drumming
community, both in the realm of jazz and African folkloric music. On his
most recent CD, Children of the House of God (Mapleshade 05132; Tel.
1-888-CDMAPLE; email: cdmaple@satelink.net), he extends that legacy with a novel fusion of spirituals from the African American tradition and chants
from the Eya Aranla. For example, a traditional Lucumí song for Oduduwa is
married to "Precious Lord," "Old Time Religion" is paired with the Shango song
"Onibode," and so on. It's a potent reaffirmation of the connections between
African and African American sacred music traditions.
Films and Videos
Although books and recordings are essential resources, only rarely can they
can convey information with the same immediacy as film or video. Thus it is
a special treat to have documentaries such as Everyday Art and Sworn to the
Drum available.
Everyday Art, the longer of the two at 50 minutes, is a testament to the
preeminent place of music and dance in AfroCuban culture. From impromptu
rumba sessions in Havana's alleyways, to rehearsals and performances by
renowned troupes such as Conjunto Folklorico and Danza Contemporanea, to
live concerts by Irakere, Los Van Van, Anacaona, et al., the music never
stops. Neither do the stream of on-camera testimonials from students and
instructors at the Escuela Nacional de Arte, Cuba's leading arts school, and
artists ranging from Amelia Pedroso, Regino Jimenez, and Fermin Nani, on the
folkloric side, to Chucho Valdes, Issac Delgado, and Juan Formell, on the
pop side. All testify to the special role of music and dance in their
lives, particularly the folkloric forms derived from ancestral sources such
as the Yoruba, Arará, Kongo, Efik/Ejagham. With student after student
voicing their love of the arts you begin to question whether this isn't
all a bit staged. Then you see an image of 91 year-old rumbera Leopoldina,
who still dances, juxtaposed with toddlers in the streets picking up their
first dance steps. Or, later on, the image of a five year-old member of
famed folkloric troupe Los Muñequitos de Matanzas performing quite ably with
older family members during a concert presentation. At that point I was
forced to stop questioning and simply left to marvel at the richness of this
culture and its ability to maintain itself across so many generations,
cultural shifts, and seemingly endless bouts of economic deprivation.
Unfortunately, no really in-depth interviews, biographical portraits,
historical segments, or lengthy rehearsals are included, which limits the
video's educational value. However, for viewers in search of an
entertaining, impressionistic, overview of Cuba's folkloric and popular
music scenes this video is worth seeking out.
Filmmaker Les Blank is reknowned for his documentary portraits of roots
music traditions, from the Mardi Gras Indians of New Orleans to bluesman
Lightnin' Hopkins. In his 1995 work Sworn to the Drum he turns the camera on master drummer and olubata Francisco Aguabella. Although only 35 minutes
in length, this tribute offers at least a partial glimpse into why Aguabella
has been such an influential performer, particularly on the West Coast.
Born in Matanzas Aguabella first came to the US in 1957 as an assistant on
one of Katherine Dunham's film projects. When asked how long that initial
project was supposed to last, he laughingly responds that each time one of
its deadlines would pass he would inform Dunham he was ready to return to
Cuba and each time Dunham would ask if he could stay for just one more
month, or two, or three.... Finally, he decided to relocate for good, joining
such other recent arrivals as Carlos 'Patato' Valdes, Mongo Santamaria,
Candido Camero, Armando Peraza, and Julito Collazo. Well known in the '50s
as a master rumbero, Aguabella would later emerge as a leading voice on the
West Coast Latin jazz scene, as well as one of only two U.S.-based olubata,
or masters of the consecrated bata. As scholar Robert Farris Thompson puts
it, he has become a virtual "Rosetta Stone" of Afro-Cuban musical thought.
Sworn to the Drum gives us an opportunity to see Aguabella in all of his
guises - Latin jazz bandleader, rumbero and olubata. The main performance
footage comes from an exciting Aguabella tribute held at San Francisco's
Caesar's Palace. This includes a roaring conga drum summit showcasing
Aguabella with Patato Valdes, Daniel Ponce, Julito Collazo, and others,
brief bata and rumba segments, a descarga with percussionists Sheila E. and
her father Pete Escovedo, and a huge finale featuring Carlos Santana, and a
cast of thousands. There is also brief footage of a bembe ceremony,
possibly from Los Angeles, in which Aguabella makes use of his Ilu Aña
(consecrated bata). Most of these performance segments are complemented by
talking head interviews with the ever articulate Bay Area drummer and
educator John Santos. When combined with the performance footage they help
reveal what a treasure Francisco Aguabella really is.
*First published in Oshun: Afrikan-Magickal Quarterly. For subscription
information contact: Oshun, 143 Progress St., Lincoln, RI 02865. Email:
oshungold@juno.com; www.tiac.net/users/ bpantry/voodoo/books.htm.
John Gray is an independent scholar specializing in Black culture
and the performing arts. He is also founder/director of the Black
Arts Research Center an archival resource center dedicated to the
documentation, preservation and dissemination of the African cultural
legacy. His writings include Fire Music: a bibliography of the New
Jazz, 1959-1990 (1991), African Music (1991), Blacks in Film and
Television (1990), Black Theater and Performance (1990), Ashe,
Traditional Religion and Healing in sub-Saharan Africa and the Diaspora
(1989) and Blacks in Classical Music (1988), all published by Greenwood
Press. Mr. Gray's current project is a multi-volume bibliography on
sacred, folk and popular music idioms of the African Diaspora.
|
