Bring Down the Power

Miss Ella Andall is a famous calypso singer in Trinidad, characterized by her beautiful voice and her devotion to the Orisha spirituality. But our group got to meet her on Tuesday and we found out she is so much more than that. We were all excited to meet her and I wasn’t sure what to expect because you never know with famous people how they are going to be, down to earth? Demanding? Distant? Friendly? I was just hoping that I would learn something from her. As soon as she walked in, her presence was undeniable. She wore a long black brown tie-dye dress and a golden hair wrap for her long locks. She greeted us all and we welcomed her, not sure yet exactly what to say or do. With a brief introduction from Dr. B she broke out into an Orisha chant calling the ancestral spirits to our meeting so that it would be a successful meeting. It was beautiful and she immediately demanded our attention. She talked about each of us having our own rhythm and that we have to learn to be comfortable in our own rhythm and step so that we can guide our lives by what we want to do and what we are comfortable with instead of walking to someone else’s rhythm. She then had us up and singing and making music and then the Dr. P got on the piano and Dr. B on his sax and all of us singing and grooving and just getting lost in a beautiful moment of music and togetherness and letting go of everything else. She was warm, caring, lovely, and it was such a good day to be in her presence and learn from her and that she, even as such a big name, wanted to learn from us and engage us as much as she did. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHEyzL1g3w8&feature=related
    In the afternoon, my group went to an Orishas shrine up in the mountains. I wasn’t sure what to expect as the only Yoruba religion shrines I had seen were in Cuba and I knew this could potentially be completely different. It did end up being different, but I still felt comfortable and familiar with what I saw and I felt instantly happy being in that location with the people we met. It had a really great energy. The shrine was in a small white building that seemed to be a lot bigger on the inside, full of rooms for people to stay or live. Along the outside white walls there were murals of each of the most important orishas. Everyone was busy preparing for this weekend’s rain festival and Orisha conference. We met a Venezuelan Babalawo from Florida, a Babalawo visiting from Nigeria, and others involved with putting together the conference. After a long talk with the Venezuelan Babalawo, I learned more about this renaissance that is going on within the Yoruba religion outside of Africa. Cuba, Trinidad, even Venezuela, Southern U.S., and even Mexico are “going back to Africa” both literally and in the sense of bringing the original traditions back to the religion outside of Africa.