Güiro for Elegguá: Music of Santería Live Ceremonial Afro-Cuban Music [Live]

Echun Okiry

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 1, 2002)
• Original Release Date: November 1, 2002
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Live
• Label: Earthcds
• Run Time: 79 minutes
• ASIN: B0007OVOWM
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: No customer reviews yet. Be the first.
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #599,669 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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About the Artist

Eleggua (Elegba), alternatively called Echú (Echún, Eshú; Exu in Brazil) is the Orisha of roads and paths, and – in extension – the owner of the crossroads, as well as the doorkeeper, standing at each entrance and each exit. Each one of these attributes may be understood both in their objective and their figurative, symbolic meaning. Consequently, Eleggua is also in charge of incidents and accidents, communication and encounters, decisions, failure or success. He embodies the unpredictable, the un-linear or chaotic element in each evolutionary or creative process, thus corresponding to C.G. Jung’s "trickster" character.

Product Description

This is a live recording of an authentic Afro-Cuban Santería ceremony that is accompanied by an ensemble of shekeres (Span.: chekeres). A shekere is a percussion instrument made from a dried and hollowed calabash gourd – hence the popular Cuban name güíro, which equally and more commonly refers to the well-known gourd scraper used in charanga bands. To construct a shekere, the calabash is cut at its narrow end and covered by a net that has beads or pods and even cowry shells inserted in its meshes. Thus equipped, the shekere may be shaken or even thrown to produce a sharp shaker sound, in addition to being hit on its bottom which renders a deep resonating tone from the inside of the gourd. This CD is over 79 minutes long and covers the most important aspects of this event. Also available as a two CD set of the entire ceremony (but only on the earthcds website).