In Yoruba mythology, Oya (Alternative spellings: Oiá, Iansã, Iansan), is the Undergoddess of the Niger River. Oya has been syncretized in Santeria with the Catholic images of the Virgin of Candelaria.

Aspects

She is seen in aspects as the warrior-spirit of the wind, lightning, fertility, fire, and magic. She creates hurricanes and tornadoes, and guards the underworld. Spirit of tornadoes (which are said to be her whirling skirts as she dances), lightning (the power of which she acquired from her husband, Shango), earthquakes, and any kind of destruction. Beyond destruction, Oya is the spirit of change, transition, and the chaos that often brings it about. Her association with the marketplace, and more specifically with the gates of cemeteries (as opposed to the entire underworld), reveals her in her aspect as facilitator of transition.

Oya's close association with the passage from life into death also means she is one of the few Orishas which are worshiped alongside the Egun ancestors, whose cult is most often distinct from that of the Orishas. In the stories of the faith, she can transform herself into a water buffalo. One of her preferred offerings is the eggplant.

Name

In Yoruba, the name Oya literally means "She Tore". She is known as Oya-Yansan, the "mother of nine." This is due to the Niger River (known to the Yoruba as the Oya) traditionally being known for nine tributaries. In Brazil, in Candomble, she is generally saluted with the phrase "Èpa heyi!. while in Cuban-derived Yórùbá traditions, the faithful often salute her by saying "Hekua hey Yansa."

Connection to Other Orishas

She is closely associated with many Orishas, but most especially Chango, Oggun, Oba (Obba), Yewá/Euá and Ochún/Oxum. Oya is believed to have been Shango's favorite wife. She is also called "the one who puts on pants to go to war" and "the one who grows a beard to go to war".

As the deity of the wind, Oya manifests in Creation in the forms of sudden and drastic change, strong storms, and the flash of the marketplace. Her representation of natural disasters and death is not as arbitrary as it may seem, these factors often serving as a means of creation for her.

Oya is said to have a sister named Ayao who is received by some of her initiates. The ritual and existence of Ayao is questionable, and it is hard to trace her origins outside of the Lukumi system. Ayao is mentioned in books by Lydia Cabrera and surfaced in the United States in the mid-nineties (1994–1995).

Syncreticism

Oya has been syncretized in Santeria with the Catholic images of the Our Lady Of Candelaria (Saint Patron of the Canary Islands in Spain) and St. Theresa. Her feast day is February 2.

In Brazilian Umbanda, she is represented by Saint Barbara.

Notes

See also

List of women warriors in folklore, literature, and popular culture

Sources

OYA, Judith Gleason, Harper, San Francisco, 1992 (Shamballah, 1987), ISBN 0-06-250461-4

Charles Spencer King.,"Nature's Ancient Religion" ISBN 978-1440417337

External links

Orixá

Category:Brazilian mythology Category:Yoruba goddesses Category:Death goddesses Category:Fertility goddesses Category:Fire goddesses Category:Sky and weather goddesses Category:Sea and river goddesses Category:Magic goddesses Category:Underworld goddesses Category:War goddesses Category:Thunder goddesses Category:Commerce goddesses Category:Santería

Selda Bağcan (pronounced ) is a Turkish singer and guitarist. She was born in 1948. The Turkish military rulers persecuted her in the 1980s due to her political songs.

Notes

Further reading

(Biography)

External links

Selda Bağcan – official website

Selda Bağcan discography at Discogs

Category:1948 births Category:Living people Category:Turkish female singers

Name	Babatunde Olatunji
Background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
Born	April 07, 1927Ajido, Lagos State, Nigeria
Died	April 06, 2003
Origin	New York City, United States
Instrument	Drums
Genre	World music
Occupation	Musician
Years active	1959–2003
Url	www.olatunjimusic.com

Babatunde Olatunji (April 7, 1927 – April 6, 2003) was a Nigerian drummer, educator, social activist and recording artist.

Biography

Olatunji was born in the village of Ajido, a small town near Badagry, Lagos State, in southwestern Nigeria. A member of the Yoruba people, Olatunji was introduced to traditional African music at an early age. He read in Reader's Digest magazine about the Rotary International Foundation's scholarship program, and applied for it. He went to the United States of America in 1950.

Education

Olatunji received a Rotary scholarship in 1950 and was educated at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, where he sang in the Morehouse College Glee Club. After graduating from Morehouse, he went on to New York University to study public administration. There, he started a small percussion group to earn money on the side while he continued his studies.

Musical career

Olatunji won a following among jazz musicians, notably creating a strong relationship with John Coltrane and Columbia Records A&R; man John Hammond who signed him to the Columbia label in 1957. With Coltrane's help, he founded the Olatunji Center for African Culture in Harlem. This was the site of Coltrane's final performance. In 1959 Olatunji released his first of six records on the Columbia label, called Drums of Passion.

In 1969, Carlos Santana had a major hit with his cover version of this first album's "Jin-go-lo-ba", which Santana recorded on his debut album, Santana, as "Jingo." Olatunji favoured a big percussion sound, and his records typically featured more than 20 players, unusual for a percussion based ensemble. Drums of Passion became a major hit and remains in print; it introduced many Americans to world music. Drums of Passion also served as the band's name. Notable band members included; Clark Terry, Bill Lee, Horace Silver, Yusef Lateef, Sikiru Adepoju and Charles Lloyd, among others.

Olatunji's subsequent recordings include Drums of Passion: The Invocation (1988), Drums of Passion: The Beat (1989) (which included Airto Moreira and Carlos Santana), Love Drum Talk (1997), Circle of Drums (2005) (originally titled Cosmic Rhythm Vibrations, with Muruga Booker and Sikiru Adepoju), and Olatunji Live at Starwood (2003 – recorded at the 1997 Starwood Festival) with guest Halim El-Dabh. He also contributed to Peace Is The World Smiling: A Peace Anthology For Families on the Music For Little People label (1993).

Olatunji recorded with many other prominent musicians (often credited as "Michael Olatunji"), including Cannonball Adderley (on his African Waltz (1961) album), Horace Silver, Quincy Jones, Pee Wee Ellis, Stevie Wonder, Randy Weston, and with Max Roach and Abbey Lincoln on the pivotal Freedom Now Suite aka We Insist, and with Grateful Dead member Mickey Hart on his Grammy winning Planet Drum projects. He is also mentioned in the lyrics of Bob Dylan's "I Shall Be Free" as recorded on the album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan.

Film and theatre

Olatunji composed music for the Broadway theatrical and Hollywood film productions of Raisin in the Sun. He assisted Bill Lee with the music for his son Spike Lee's hit film She's Gotta Have It.

Social activism

Olatunji was known for making an impassioned speech for social justice before performing in front of a live audience. His progressive political beliefs are outlined in The Beat Of My Drum: An Autobiography, with a foreword by Joan Baez, (Temple University Press, 2005). He toured the American south with Rev. Martin Luther King Jr and joined King in the march on Washington. When he performed before the United Nations General Assembly, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev took off his shoes and danced. Later, he was one of the first outside performers to perform in Prague at Václav Havel's request. On July 21, 1979, he appeared at the Amandla Festival along with Bob Marley, Dick Gregory, Patti LaBelle and Eddie Palmieri, amongst others.

Teaching career

Olatunji was also a music educator, and invented a method of teaching and recording drum patterns which he called the "Gun-Dun, Go-Do, Pa-Ta" method after the different sounds made on the drum.

Olatunji taught drum and dance workshops year-round starting in the late 1950s. Over the years he presented workshops nationally and internationally at colleges, universities, civic, cultural, and governmental organizations too numerous to list here.

He co-wrote, Musical Instruments of Africa: Their Nature, Use and Place in the Life of a Deeply Musical People with Betty Warner-Dietz (John Day Company, 1965). He taught a summer drumming and African dance course with his wife, at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York for many summers during Family week. He also taught at the Esalen Institute in California from 1985 until shortly before his death in Salinas, California from diabetes in 2003, on the day before his 76th birthday.

Discography

Albums

Drums of Passion (1959)

Zungo! (1961)

Flaming Drums (1962, Columbia Records CS8666)

Olatunji

Soul Makossa (1973, Paramount) (Single/EP)

Dance to the Beat of My Drum (1986, Bellaphon)

Drums of Passion: The Invocation (1988, Rykodisc)

Drums of Passion: The Beat (1989, Rykodisc)

Drums of Passion: Celebrate Freedom, Justice & Peace (1993, Olatunji Music)

Drums of Passion and More (1994, Bear Family) Box Set

Babatunde Olatunji, Healing Rhythms, Songs and Chants (1995, Olatunji Music)

Love Drum Talk (1997, Chesky)

Drums of Passion [Expanded] (2002)

Olatunji Live at Starwood (2003) Recorded Live at the Starwood Festival 1997

Healing Session (2003, Narada)

Circle of Drums (2005, Chesky)

Videography

Olatunji and his Drums of Passion (Video) (1986 Video Arts International) Recorded Live at Oakland Colisium 12/31/85

Love Drum Talk (Video) (1998, CHE, TMS, Chesky)

African Drumming (Instructional video) (2004, Interworld)

Olatunji Live at Starwood (DVD) (2005, ACE) Recorded Live at the Starwood Festival 1997

Contributions

1960: Uhuru Afrika - Randy Weston

1960: We Insist! – Freedom Now - Max Roach

1961: Common Ground - Herbie Mann

1961: African Waltz - Cannonball Adderley

1977: Silver 'n Percussion - Horace Silver

1977: Home in the Country - Pee Wee Ellis

1980: Connections - Richie Havens

1987: Taj - Taj Mahal

1988: The Other Side of This - Airto Moreira

1990: At the Edge – Mickey Hart (Rykodisc)

1991: Planet Drum – Mickey Hart (Rykodisc)

1991: Around the World for a Song (Rykodisc)

1991: Jungle Fever - Stevie Wonder

1993: Peace Is The World Smiling: A Peace Anthology For Families - Various Artists

1994: The Big Bang: In the Beginning Was a Drum

1994: The Best of Both Worlds: Rykodisc/Hannibal World Music Sampler

1995: The Big Bang

1995: Dance of the Rainbow Serpent - Carlos Santana

1997: Jazz 'Round Midnight - Quincy Jones

1998: Selections from Mondo Beat

1998: New Visions: World Rhythms

1998: Mondo Beat: Masters of Percussion

1998: The Best of Santana - Carlos Santana

2000: The Rose That Grew from Concrete - 2Pac

2000: Club Africa, Vol. 2: Hard African Funk, Afro-Jazz, & Original Afro-Beat

2000: Afeni Shakur Discusses "The Rose That Grew from Concrete, Vol. 1"

Bibliography

Musical Instruments of Africa: Their Nature, Use and Place in the Life of a Deeply Musical People (1965) with Betty Warner-Dietz. John Day Company OCLC: 592096

The Beat Of My Drum: An Autobiography (2005) (with a foreword by Joan Baez). Temple University Press ISBN 1-59213-354-1, ISBN 978-1-59213-354-3

See also

Polyrhythm

References

Reference to Starwood Festival appearance in poet Ray McNiece bio

Referred to in Bob Dylan's "I Shall Be Free" from the album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963)

External links

Babatunde Olatunji's official website

Babatunde Olatunji at the African Music Encyclopedia

Babatunde Olatunji's personal page

Salon Feature on Olatunji

Interview with Olatunji, October 2000

Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame article

Olatunji's Autobiography

Category:1927 births Category:2003 deaths Category:Deaths from diabetes Category:Djembe players Category:People from Salinas, California Category:Nigerian percussionists Category:Planet Drum members Category:Morehouse College alumni Category:New York University alumni Category:Nigerian drummers Category:Nigerian musicians Category:Yoruba people