Description
Book SynopsisDespite the growing volume of literature about the orishas, surprisingly little has been published about the ubiquitous Yorùbá music spirit. This groundbreaking collection addresses the gap in the research with contributions from a cross-section of prestigious musicians, scholars, and priests from Nigeria, the Americas, and Europe who have dedicated themselves to studying Yorùbá sacred drums.
Trade ReviewRecipient of the Commendation Book Prize 2016: ""
The Yorùbá God of Drumming is a multifaceted book with an emphasis on collaboration, deeply immersed in Yorùbá studies. It shows meticulous attention to detail and is densely referenced, with a strong sense of passion for the subject. It supports writing from practitioners whose voices might otherwise not be heard, including them as the authors rather than informants, showing impressive editorial skill in making this a coherent book while retaining a diversity of experience and communication styles."" - British Forum for Ethnomusicology
""This volume is a remarkable collection of essays, in which scholars of diverse disciplines, nationalities, and regional specializations study transatlantic Yorùbá music and religion through the lens of the spiritual power invested in its drums. The result is a uniquely broad and nuanced portrait of a powerful expressive tradition that has thrived vigorously in the New World, even as it struggles to survive in its ancestral homeland."" - Peter Manuel, professor of ethnomusicology, Graduate Center of the City University of New York
""Far more than providing yet another addition to the genre of 'single orisha volumes,' Villepastour's collection raises the bar for such enterprises. In focusing on perhaps the most mysterious and ill-understood entity in the circum-Atlantic congeries of ritual practices that hark back to what, by the late nineteenth century, gradually became known as Yorùbá religion,
The Yorùbá God of Drumming presents both a major empirical contribution and a model for integrating the voices and perspectives of scholars and practitioners/musicians alike."" - Stephan Palmié, professor of anthropology and social sciences, University of Chicago
