Lecture 1 Voodoo Children

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Lecture 1Voodoo Children

• Vesa Matteo Piludu
• Helsinki

Department of Comparative Religion and Institute
for Art Research University of Helsinki
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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

3
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
  arent considered.
• The music is not only entertainment, its a
  lifestyle, a philosophy.
• Mystic role of the singer similar to the
  preachers one
• Relation to music that is quite similar to trance
  state
• Respect revered to the great musicians similar to
  an ancestor cult

4
Santana Black Magic Woman, 1970 Album
Abraxas, Author Peter Green

• Got a black magic womanGot a black magic
  womanIve got a black magic woman
• Got me so blind I cant seeThat shes a black
  magic womanShes trying to make a devil out of
  meDont turn your back on me babyDont turn
  your back on me babyYes dont turn your back on
  me baby
• Stop messing round with your tricks
• Dont turn your back on me babyYou just might
  pick up my magic sticks

• Got your spell on me babyGot your spell on me
  baby
• Yes you got your spell on me babyTurning my
  heart into stone
• I need you so bad, magic womanI cant leave you
  alone
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?v6WCc025HH0Efeature
  related

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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 arent necessarily Afro

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Dark ladies sells incredibly well(from Hollywood
to gothic rock)
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Joe Cocker Civilized Man Songwriters Alter,
Louis / Delange, Eddie

• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vSEFA31Gt8T8feature
  related
• You made me need youNeed you so badWould you
  believeAnd never so mad, oh yeahDouble cross me
  once, and never cross me againNow you're running
  'round looking for some sympathyWell you know as
  well as I that we're history
• You're lucky, I'm a civilized manYou're lucky,
  I'm a civilized manOh yeah, a civilized man

• A poison arrow, right from the startRight down
  to zero, you went for my heartOh yeahYou've
  been hoodoo, voodooStart the fire again
• Now you ask me to forget all you've brought me
  toWhen you know as well as I you've got it
  coming to youYou're lucky, I'm a civilized
  manYou're lucky, I'm a civilized manOh yeah, a
  civilized man

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Both songs refers to hoodoo love spells In the
photos symbols of Erzulie - Ezilí Dantó - Ezili
Freda, goddess of love in vodoun pantheon
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Almamegretta (Italy) Black Athena

• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vmctUU9_Ck00playnex
  t_fromPLfeaturePlayListp544561EB07C8678Bplay
  next1index29
• 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
• read the truth
• science was created in Timbuktu
• center of the world is Africa
• the rhythm of the drum comes from Africa

• 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

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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
  YeahWell, I stand up next to a mountain And
  I chop it down with the edge of my hand
• Well, I pick up all the pieces and make an
  islandMight even raise a little sand
• Yeah, 'Cause I'm a voodoo child

• 2.
• Lord knows I'm a voodoo child
• BabyI want to say one more last thingI
  didn't mean to take up all your sweet time
• I'll give it right back to ya one of these days
  Ha ha haI said I didn't mean to take up all
  your sweet time
• I'll give it right back one of these days Oh
  yeah

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Jimi Hendrix, Album Electric Ladyland
(1968)Voodoo Child (Slight Return). Part 2

• Hendrix refers to the song as the Black Panthers'
  national anthem
• Jimi Hendrix - Voodoo Chile Atlanta
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vv7yPRYL_Oq0feature
  related

• 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 childHey hey heyI'm a
  voodoo child baby
• I don't take no for an answerQuestion no Yeah

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Analogies in Voodoo Child

• 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

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Angelique Kidjo,Voodoo ChildLP Oremi.

• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vL9ACprQXFwI
• In the video it is possible to see classical
  Benin sculptures on the background

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The origins West Africa, Benin, Nigeria, Congo
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The slave ship Brooks of Liverpool, 1791
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Sade Slave Song, part 1LP Lovers Rock

• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vym5zjRRTqU0
• I see them gathered, see them on the shore
• I turned to look once moreAnd he who knows
  me notTakes me to the belly of darknessThe
  tears run swift and hardAnd when they fallEven,
  even the comfort of a stoneWould be a gainThere
  was a time when I thoughtI would have to give
  upBut I'm thankful that I'm Strong as I am and
  I'll Try to do the best I can

• 1 - Tears will run swiftAnd tears will come that
  fall like rainI pray that it's swift
  thoughTears will fall as cold as painI pray to
  the almighty Let me not to him doAs he has unto
  meTeach my beloved childrenWho have been
  enslavedTo reach for the light continually
• So many times I prayedSo many times I've prayed
  for youPrayed for you

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Sade Slave Song, part 2LP Lovers Rock

• The tears run swift and hard and cold as
  painEven, even the comfort of a stone would be a
  gainHad I not had the strength and wisdom of a
  warriorI would have to give upBut I'm thankful
  that I'm Strong as I am and I'll Try to do the
  best I canRepeat 1I pray to the almightyLet
  us not do as he has unto usTeach my beloved
  children I've been a slaveBut reach for the
  light continually

• Wisdom is the flameWisdom is the brave
  warriorWho will carry us into the sunI pray
  that it's swift though Tears will come that fall
  like rainSo many times, so many times

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Cidade negra (Brazil) Mucama (as the new
slave)LP Sobre todas as forcas.

• Mucama
• Na cama do patrao
• Me chama do negao
• Me paga
• Salário di bufao
• Mas come
• Como a populacao nao come

• Servant
• In the Lords bed
• He call me big nigger
• He pay me
• A ridiculous salary
• But he eats
• What the people doesnt

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Slave trade
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Afro-American Religions

• Brazil candomblé, tambor de minas, macumba,
  umbanda, others
• Haiti vodou, others
• Cuba santeria, others
• Usa hoodoo, others

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Haitian vodou
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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

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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

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Haitian vodou please, forget zombies
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"I Walked With A Zombie"1943

• Trailer full of Hollywood stereotypes
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vhT_JnFXC6UA

• R.e.M. I walked with a zombie
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vwIptH1awUNINR1
• I walk with a zombie
• I walk with a zombie
• I walk with a zombie last night

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Haitian vodouplease, forget black magics
puppets
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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-au-Prince, during the annual festival
  honouring the spirit Ogou

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Haitian ritual song

• Leaf Oh, save my life
• Im in misery
• My child is sick, I run to the healer-priest
• If hes a good priest, hell save my life
• I live in poverty, Oh

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Haitian mambo priestess
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Lakou Souvenance with rada drums
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Danças Brasileiras - Candomblé

• http//www.youtube.com/watch?v9dlSVHZtQ_Afeature
  related

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Danças BrasileirasTambor de Mina

• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vq23VwCvedmQfeature
  related

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Milton Nascimento, Os Tambores De MinasLP
Nascimento (Grammy winner for world music)

• Era um, era dois, era cemMil tambores e as vozes
  do alémMorro velho, senzala, casa cheia
• Repinica, rebate, revolteia
• E trovão no céu é candeiaEra bumbo, era
  surdo e era caixaMeia-volta e mais volta e
  meiaPocotó, trem de ferro e uma luzProcissão,
  chão de flores e Jesus
• Bate forte até sangrar a mãoE batendo pelos
  que se foramOs batendo pelos que voltaramOs
  tambores de Minas soarãoSeus tambores nunca se
  calaram

• There was one, two, a hundred,
• a thousand drum and the voices
• from
  beyond
• Old hill, senzala, full house
• 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
• 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

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Milton Nascimento, Os Tambores De MinasLP
Nascimento

• (...)E o futuro nas mãos do
  meninoBatucando por fé e destino
• (...)

• And the future in the childs hands
• Drumming for faith and destiny
• Free translation Vesa Matteo Piludu
• Senzala slaves houses
• Bumbo, caixa, surdo drums

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Angelique Kidjo Shango

• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vC_VjmiPDZmUfeature
  channel

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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

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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!

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Xangó, Brazil
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Xango, Brazil
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Xango, Benin, Africa
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Xango, Benin
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Xango, Brazil
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Xango
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Xango, Brazil
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Xango, Benin, Africa
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Xango, Benin, Africa