Yemaya Folklore Group: Purity of white and wisdom

 
Pablo Calzado made me aware of a special gig he had organized as part of the Esplanade festival A tapestry of sacred music a couple of Sundays ago. The invitation sounded interesting enough for me to go to the esplanade to check it out.

 

As I arrived a bit before show time I noticed  the setup was a bit like a very high-end street performance. Street because there was no stage, high end because there was a big sound system and stage lighting set up around the performance area. 

Since I was assuming people would get close because they could, and by now you know I think they should, I positioned myself between the impressive set of drums and one of the man-high speakers.

As the, almost all Cuban band started to play

Diosdado Hechavarria (Cuba)

Eddy Fleitas Del Sol (Cuba)

Leo Munoz (Mexico)

Mario Calzado (Cuba)

Pablo Calzado (Cuba)

It quickly drew a small enthusiastic crowd. 

As we were two tunes into the first set, and I had aimed my camera at one of the gentlemen behind the drums, I suddenly saw a blue image fly into the frame. I immediately recognized the face after I looked up from behind my camera but was slightly surprised to see this particular woman dancing.

I have heard Meyvis Sahili’s, the fifth Cuban in the band, lovely voice when singing and heard her play a mean conga at several venue but I had yet to see her dance for  performance. 

 

Dressed in a lovely blue, she danced a wild powerful dance, depicting what I later understood was Yemoja the spirit of water the gift of life.

Sahili explained to me later that the two sets of the performance were dedicated each to a spiritual character.Yemoja the lady in blue

as mentioned and Orunmila a senior spirit, the spirit of wisdom, represented by white clothing.

The music and dance had drawn in a crowd of at least 150 people standing around and being entertained through chants and song presented by Eddy and Sahili, regularly interrupted by high rhythm drum solos. A group dance was unavoidable, only few can resist the Cuban charm

I usually keep myself far away from the religious and spiritual practices of all societies, so far that I cannot even say I am a non-believer and I am also not a habitual follower of international politics practiced by the United States. This time however, I was happy that, like the United States, I allowed myself to open up to some segments of the Cuban culture.