Lecture 1
Voodoo Children
Vesa Matteo Piludu
Helsinki
Department of Comparative Religion and Institute for Art Research
University of Helsinki
Influence of Afro-American religions
on popular music
 This lectures tells about the relationship between Afro-American
religions and popular music
 The Afro-American religions has a significant influence on popular
music
 1. The influence could be musical
 In popular music could be used same instruments, rhythms,
time-lines in a different contest: profane, not sacred
 2. The influence could be at the level of the lyrics: the songs have
words that mention directly or indirectly Afro-American
religions’ features
 3. The influence could be both musical and lyrical
Similarities between
Afro-American religious and popular music
 Rhythms, dance, collectivity
 Antiphonal choruses: solo question and chorus answer
 Vocal – instrumental dialogue
 Relevant use of time-lines: short rhythmic patterns
 Importance of the song and lyrics: songs should tell something
relevant about life, should have soul, content mystery and
passion. Bad lyrics aren’t considered.
 The music is not only entertainment, it’s a lifestyle, a philosophy.
 Mystic role of the singer similar to the preacher’s one
 Relation to music that is quite similar to trance state
 Respect revered to the great musicians similar to an “ancestor cult “
Santana: Black Magic Woman, 1970
Album: Abraxas, Author: Peter Green
 Got a black magic woman
Got a black magic woman
I’ve got a black magic woman
Got me so blind I cant see
That she’s a black magic woman
She’s trying to make a devil out
of me
Don’t turn your back on me baby
Don’t turn your back on me baby
Yes don’t turn your back on me
baby
Stop messing round with your
tricks
Don’t turn your back on me baby
You just might pick up my magic
sticks
 Got your spell on me baby
Got your spell on me baby
Yes you got your spell on me baby
Turning my heart into stone
I need you so bad, magic woman
I can’t leave you alone
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6W
Cc025HH0E&feature=related
Black Magic Woman
 The black magic woman has
the features of a dark lady
(fascinating, but dangerous, as
an expert of hoodoo love
spells)
 Dark ladies are frequent in
American popular culture, they
aren’t necessarily Afro
Dark ladies sells incredibly well
(from Hollywood to gothic rock)
Joe Cocker: Civilized Man
Songwriters: Alter, Louis / Delange, Eddie
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
SEFA31Gt8T8&feature=related
 You made me need you
Need you so bad
Would you believe
And never so mad, oh yeah
Double cross me once, and
never cross me again
Now you're running 'round looking
for some sympathy
Well you know as well as I that
we're history
You're lucky, I'm a civilized man
You're lucky, I'm a civilized man
Oh yeah, a civilized man
 A poison arrow, right from the
start
Right down to zero, you went for
my heart
Oh yeah
You've been hoodoo, voodoo
Start the fire again
 Now you ask me to forget all
you've brought me to
When you know as well as I you've
got it coming to you
You're lucky, I'm a civilized man
You're lucky, I'm a civilized man
Oh yeah, a civilized man
Both songs refers to hoodoo love spells
In the photos: symbols of Erzulie - Ezilí Dantó Ezili Freda, goddess of love in vodoun pantheon
Almamegretta (Italy): Black Athena
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mctUU9_Ck
00&playnext_from=PL&feature=PlayList&p=54
4561EB07C8678B&playnext=1&index=29
 Original man you got to understand
we were all Africans
 yes the knowledge of myself
makes me a better self
 so pick that dusty book up off the
shelf and read the truth
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read the truth
science was created in Timbuktu
center of the world is Africa
the rhythm of the drum comes
from Africa
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Look back look back
Athena was black
Athena was black
If you look back
realize visualize
open your eyes truth and lies
we will despise
oppressed must rise
Jimi Hendrix, Album: Electric Ladyland (1968)
Voodoo Child (Slight Return). Part 1
1.
Well, I stand up next to a mountain
And I chop it down with the edge
of my hand
Yeah
Well, I stand up next to a mountain
And I chop it down with the edge of
my hand
2.
Lord knows I'm a voodoo child
Baby
I want to say one more last thing
I didn't mean to take up all your
sweet time
I'll give it right back to ya one of
these days
Ha ha ha
Well, I pick up all the pieces and
make an island
Might even raise a little sand
I said I didn't mean to take up all
your sweet time
Yeah, 'Cause I'm a voodoo child
I'll give it right back one of these
days
Oh yeah
Jimi Hendrix, Album: Electric Ladyland (1968)
Voodoo Child (Slight Return). Part 2
 3.
 If I don't meet you no more in
this world then uh
I'll meet ya on the next one
And don't be late
Don't be late
'Cause i'm a voodoo child
voodoo child
Lord knows I'm a voodoo child
Hey hey hey
I'm a voodoo child baby
I don't take no for an answer
Question no
Yeah
 Hendrix refers to the song as the
Black Panthers' national anthem
 Jimi Hendrix - Voodoo Chile
Atlanta
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
v7yPRYL_Oq0&feature=related
Analogies in Voodoo Child
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Voodoist
Afro-American
Expert of religious trance
Uses hypnotic music
Said to be able to control the
forces of nature with his or the
divinities’ powers
 Black Power
 Afro-American
 Movement in ascension
(at the time)
 Related to Afro-American
music
 Radical:
 I don't take no for an answer
 If I don't meet you no more in
this world then uh
 I'll meet ya on the next one
 Rocker (Jimi Hendrix)
 Afro-American
 In musical trance
 Uses hypnotic music
 His music have relationship
with Afro-American religions
 Had power of influence on
the masses via music
 Politically radical
Angelique Kidjo,Voodoo Child
LP: Oremi.
 http://www.youtube.com/wat
ch?v=L9ACprQXFwI
 In the video it is possible to
see classical Benin
sculptures on the
background
The origins
West Africa, Benin, Nigeria, Congo
The slave ship Brooks of Liverpool, 1791
Sade: Slave Song, part 1
LP: Lovers Rock
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
ym5zjRRTqU0
 I see them gathered, see them on
the shore
I turned to look once more
And he who knows me not
Takes me to the belly of darkness
The tears run swift and hard
And when they fall
Even, even the comfort of a stone
Would be a gain
There was a time when I thought
I would have to give up
But I'm thankful that I'm
Strong as I am and I'll
Try to do the best I can
 1 - Tears will run swift
And tears will come that fall like
rain
I pray that it's swift though
Tears will fall as cold as pain
I pray to the almighty
Let me not to him do
As he has unto me
Teach my beloved children
Who have been enslaved
To reach for the light continually
 So many times I prayed
So many times I've prayed for you
Prayed for you
Sade: Slave Song, part 2
LP: Lovers Rock
 The tears run swift and hard and
cold as pain
Even, even the comfort of a stone
would be a gain
Had I not had the strength and
wisdom of a warrior
I would have to give up
But I'm thankful that I'm
Strong as I am and I'll
Try to do the best I can
Repeat 1
I pray to the almighty
Let us not do as he has unto us
Teach my beloved children I've
been a slave
But reach for the light
continually
 Wisdom is the flame
Wisdom is the brave warrior
Who will carry us into the sun
I pray that it's swift though
Tears will come that fall like rain
So many times, so many times
Cidade negra (Brazil): Mucama (as the new slave)
LP: Sobre todas as forcas.
 Mucama
 Na cama do patrao
 Servant
 In the Lord’s bed
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Me chama do negao
Me paga
Salário di bufao
Mas come
Como a populacao nao come
He call me ”big nigger”
He pay me
A ridiculous salary
But he eats
What the people doesn’t
Slave trade
Afro-American Religions
 Brazil: candomblé,
tambor de minas,
macumba, umbanda,
others
 Haiti: vodou, others
 Cuba: santeria, others
 Usa: hoodoo, others
Haitian vodou
Superficial syncretism
 In Latin America the African divinities were ”fused” or
identified with Catholic saints …
 But the syncretism was quite superficial … as the logic of the
possession ritual is deeply African
 Syncretism was a useful strategy for the survival of the African
beliefs
African and Afro-American possession religion
 The finality of the rituals is the possession itself, the
descent of the divinities and their embodiment … in the
“heads” of the possessed
 The possessed dances in trance, acquiring the voice dance
steps and behaviours of the spirit. The beliver has the dress
and the symbols of the divinities
 the trance is extremely ritualized
 The divinities enjoy to dance, the offers, the sacrifices,
the ritual itself
 The possessed enjoy the bodily communion with the
divinity
Haitian vodou: please, forget zombies
"I Walked With A Zombie"1943
 Trailer full of Hollywood
stereotypes
 http://www.youtube.com/wat
ch?v=hT_JnFXC6UA
 R.e.M. I walked with a zombie
 http://www.youtube.com/watch
?v=wIptH1awUNI&NR=1
 I walk with a zombie
 I walk with a zombie
 I walk with a zombie last night
Haitian vodou:
please, forget black magic’s puppets
Haitian vodou is much more
connected with healing
 A vodou priest treats an ill
woman with mud from the
sacred pool in Plaine du
Nord
 300 kilometres north of
Haiti's capital, Port-auPrince, during the annual
festival honouring the spirit
Ogou
Haitian ritual song
 Leaf Oh, save my life
I’m in misery
My child is sick, I run to the healer-priest
If he’s a good priest, he’ll save my life
I live in poverty, Oh
Haitian mambo priestess
Lakou Souvenance with rada drums
Danças Brasileiras - Candomblé
 http://www.youtube.co
m/watch?v=9dlSVHZtQ
_A&feature=related
Danças Brasileiras
Tambor de Mina
 http://www.youtube.co
m/watch?v=q23VwCve
dmQ&feature=related
Milton Nascimento, Os Tambores De Minas
LP: Nascimento (Grammy winner for world music)
 Era um, era dois, era cem
 There was one, two, a hundred,
Mil tambores e as vozes do além
Morro velho, senzala, casa cheia
a thousand drum and the voices
from beyond
Old hill, senzala, full house
Repinica, rebate, revolteia
The sound rebounds, bounces
and bounds
Thunder in the sky is a candle
It was bumbo, surdo and caixa
Half-round and one and half
Horse track, iron train and a light
Procession, soil of flowers and
Jesus
E trovão no céu é candeia
Era bumbo, era surdo e era caixa
Meia-volta e mais volta e meia
Pocotó, trem de ferro e uma luz
Procissão, chão de flores e Jesus
Bate forte até sangrar a mão
E batendo pelos que se foram
Os batendo pelos que voltaram
Os tambores de Minas soarão
Seus tambores nunca se calaram
Hit strong until the hand bleeds
Hit for the departed ones
Hit for the ones returned
The drums of Minas will play
The drums that never were in
silence
Milton Nascimento, Os Tambores De Minas
LP: Nascimento
(...)
E o futuro nas mãos do menino
Batucando por fé e destino
(...)
 And the future in the child’s hands
Drumming for faith and destiny
 Free translation: Vesa Matteo
Piludu
 Senzala: slave’s houses
 Bumbo, caixa, surdo = drums
Angelique Kidjo: Shango
 http://www.youtube.com/wat
ch?v=C_VjmiPDZmU&featu
re=channel
Xangô
 Lord of the thunders and
fires
 King of Oyó, royalty
 Brave, dominator
 Masculine, virile
 Half-human and half orixá
 Color: white and red
 Symbols: oxé, double
battle-axe
Xangô
 Cd Festa da Musica do
Gantois 2
 track 5
 Rhythm: barra vento
 The dance represent royal
appearance, the assignation
of judgments, thunders
 Fire dance
 Kawô kabiesileh!
Xangó, Brazil
Xango, Brazil
Xango, Benin, Africa
Xango, Benin
Xango, Brazil
Xango
Xango, Brazil
Xango, Benin, Africa
Xango, Benin, Africa
Vinicius de Moraes – Baden Powell:
Canto de Ossanha
 Amigo sinhô
Saravá
Xangô me mandou lhe dizer
 Friend, old boy
 Saravá
 Xango send me to say to you
Se é canto de Ossanha
Não vá!
Que muito vai se arrepender
 If it is Song of Ossanha
 Don’t go!
 You will regret it!
Pergunte pr'o seu Orixá
O amor só é bom se doer
 Ask to your orixá
 The love is good only
 if it hurts!
 Xango, opposed to the
herbalist Ossanha, is here
represented as a protector of
passionate and brave love,
including risks of pain and
sorrow
Xangô: justice and wifes
 As other gods of thunder, Xango is connected to justice and
he is a punisher of thieves and evil-doers
 In Africa house stroked by lighting is considered marked by
the rave of Xangô
 Xangô has 3 wifes: Oia-Iansã (storm), Oxum (river) and Obá
(a she-warrior, also connected to a river)
 There is a strong rivality between Oxum and Obá
Santana: Jingo
 http://www.youtube.com/wat
ch?v=Rc4vZHf5iSQ
Galn Costa and Milton Nascimento:
Voz do Tambor (Fonseca/Bastos)
LP: Aquele frevo axé
 Fala por nós a voz do tambor
 Voz que trae o meu amor
 The voice of the drums speaks for
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As cahoeiras
Céu onde está Olorum
Toda a beleza
Agradecer a Oxum
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The rapids
Sky where Olorum lives
All the beauty
Will please Oxum
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Luz das estrelas
Agradecer a Xango
O bem da vida
O bem da vida vem no bater do
tambor
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Starlight
Will please Xango
The joy of life
Come from drumming
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
us
 The voice that takes my love
 Olorum: God of skies
 Xango: god of thunder
 Oxum: goddess of
EaNba-3Wy8Y
 Free translation:
Vesa Matteo Piludu
Iemanjá - Yemanjá
 Lady of the seas and
oceans, salted water
 Both calm and stormy
 Fertility, childbirth
 protector of family
 Is considered the mother of
all the orixás
 Colours: silver white and
turquoise
 Symbol: silver mirror, abebé
Yemanjá
 Cd Festa da Musica do
Gantois 2
 track 4
 Various rhythms
 Odu iyá!
 The dance represents the
movements of the sea, the
waves and calm femininity
African legend: back to the sea
 She is the daughter of Olookun, divinity of the deep seas
 His husband is completely drunk and pokes fun at the
impressive dimensions of the breasts of Yemanjá
 Offended, she beats the ground with her foot and transforms
herself into a river, that goes back to the sea
Procession of Iemanjá: 2 of February
Procession of Jemanjá
Gal Costa (Author: Dorival Caymmy, Brazil):
Dois de Fevereiro, LP: Gal Costa canta Caymmy
 Dia dois de fevereiro
Dia de festa no mar
Eu quero ser o primeiro
Pra salvar Yemanjá
Eu mandei um bilhete pra ela
Pedindo para ela me ajudar
Ela então me respondeu
Que eu tivesse paciência de esperar
O presente que eu mandei pra ela
De cravos e rosas vingou
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The Second of February
It’s a day of celebration in the Sea
I want to be the first one
To hail Yemanjá
I send her a paper
Asking for help
She answered
To have patience and wait
I gave her a present
Done by carnation and roses
Zeca Baleiro: Mamae Oxum (traditional, Brazil)
 Iemanjá Celebration – Mamãe Oxum
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDi89NTyNk
 Dances of Oxum:
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhcsJ04s54&feature=related
 Zeca Baleiro: Mamãe Oxum
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkctGlCA_t
w
 Eu vi mamãe Oxum na cachoeira
Sentada na beira do rio
Colhendo lírio lirulê
Colhendo lírio lirulá
Colhendo lírio
Pra enfeitar o seu congá
Ê areia do mar que o céu serena
Ê areia do mar que o céu serenou
Na areia do mar mar é areia
Maré cheia ê mar marejou
 I’ve seen Mother Oxúm
 in a fall
 Sitting on the river’s shores
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Picking flowers, oh yeah
Picking flowers, oh yeah
Picking flowers
To fascinate her congá (altar)
 It’s the sea sand illuminated
by the sky,
 Sea sand illuminated by the
sky,
 In the sea sand, the sea is
sand
 Full tide, oh, the sea shores!
Oxúm in the Fall
Oxum
 Divinity of fresh, running
waters
 Waterfalls
 Sensual, feminine, vain
 But also protective and full
of compassion
 She is full of strength of will
 connected to childbirth and
Ifá divination
 Symbol: golden mirror,
abebé
 Colour: golden yellow,
copper
Oxum
 Cd Festa da Musica do
Gantois 2
 track 1
 Rhythm: ijexá
 Ore yê yê ô!
 The dance represent both
the movement of a flowing
river and sensual femininity
 The divinity is looking at the
mirror and taking care of her
jewellery and hairs
Oxum
Oxum, Brazil
Oxum
Oxum
 In Nigeria she is the divinity
of the river Oxum
 According to a legend she
was offended because the
male orixás’ organized
reunions without women
 As a revenge, she make all
the women barren and the
all the orixas’ projects failed
 At the end all, she is invited
to the reunions, and the
things turn back to the
normality
Rappa (Brazil): Lado B Lado A
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Se eles sao Exu
Eu sou Yemanjá
Se elem matam bicho
Eu tomo banho de mar
(…)
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Nao abro mao da mitologia negra
Pra dizer:
Eu nao pareco com com voce
(…)
 I’m not renouncing to the Black
 Eu soh guerreiro, sou trabalhador
Eh todo dia vou encarar
Com Fé em Deus e na minha
batalha (...)
If they are Exú
I’m Yemanjá
If they kill a beast
I swim in the sea
(…)
Mythology
 To say:
 I’m not like you!
 I’m a warrior, a worker
 Fighting every day
 With faith in God and in my
battle (…)
 Exú = crossroads’ god
 Yemanjá= Sea goddess
 Free translation: Vesa Matteo
Piludu
Exú (Salvador, Brazil)
Exu’s colors: red and black
Exú - Carybe
 Traditional trickster
 Is uncontrollable, unpredictable
 But it is possible to ask him
favours
 Dominantly male, but also
female, strongly human and
emotive, full of desires
 It is dangerous for his humanlike behaviour … but isn’t evil
 He is the mediator, the bridge
between humans and divinities
 He must called before all the
others divinities to avoid
“confusion”
Exú
 Exu (known as Eleggua in Cuba and Legba in Haiti) is the owner of
the roads and doors in this world.
 He is the repository of axé (life energy).
 The colours red and black or white and black are his and codify his
contradictory nature.
 In particular, Exu stands at the crossroads of the human and the
divine, as he is a child-like messenger between the two worlds
 Exú is also connected to sacrifices and offer
Eshú l'arôye!
 In general, if Exú is respected, it ”opens the doors” and it is
helpful
 If isn’t considered, he could cause every kinds of catastrophes
Exú ceremony - padé
 The exú ceremony is called padé
 It consist of an offer of vegetals to Exú
 … and it is performed before the real ceremony,
to avoid “confusion” during the ritual
 CD Filhos de Gandhi, track 3: “sire de exú”
Exú (Salvador, Brazil)
Vinicius de Moraes – Baden Powell
 Lamento de Exú
 The ”cry” of Exú is interpreted with a feeling similar to the blues
Martinho da Vila: Sincretismo religioso
Singer from Rio in favor of syncretism
 Ê, ô, todos os povos são filhos do
senhor!
Deus está em todo lugar.
 Nas mãos que criam, nas bocas
que cantam, nos corpos que
dançam, nas relações amorosas,
no lazer sadio, no trabalho
honesto.
 Onde está Deus? - Em todo lugar!
 Olorum, Jeová, Oxalá, Alah,
 All the peoples are God’s sons
 God is everywhere!
 In the hands that create, in the
mouths that song, in the bodies
that dance, in the love relations,
in the healthy and in the honest
work
 Where is God? Everywhere!
 Olorum, Jeová, Oxalá, Alah,
N`Zambi. . . Jesus!
 E o espírito Santo? É Deus!
Salve sincretismo religioso! Salve!
Quem é Omulu, gente? - São
Lázaro!
Iansã? - Santa Bárbara!
Ogum? - São Jorge!
N`Zambi. . . Jesus!
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And the Holy Spirit? Is Jesus!
Hail the syncretism! Hail!
Who’s Omolú, people?
Saint Lazarus!
Iansã? - Saint Barbara!
Ogum? – Saint George!
Mãe Stella of Oxossi (Salvador) against the
syncretism: Iansã is not Santa Barbara
 “The catholic saints and images have their value. We do
not want to stop having faith in Saint Barbara. Sure, an
elevated spirit.
 But we know that Iansã is another energy, it is not St.
Barbara.
 Religion is not something to be imposed, it depends of the
consciousness of everyone.
 But we want respect with the Candomblé.
 It is a non-sense, for example, to give food to Iansa at
St.Barbara's feet. It has no meaning.
 The food is of Iansa, it is another energy, completely
different of what it is St.Barbara, do you understand?”