Efficacy of Sound : Power, Potency, and Promise in the Translocal Ritual Music of Cuban Ifá-Òrìsà

Ruthie Meadows

ISBN 10: 0226828956 / ISBN 13: 9780226828954

Published by University Of Chicago Press Nov 2023, 2023

About this Item

Neuware - 'Hailing from Cuba, Nigeria, and various sites across Latin America and the Caribbean, Ifâa missionary-practitioners are transforming the landscape of Ifâa divination and deity (áoráiðsáa/oricha) worship through transatlantic travel and reconnection. In Cuba, where Ifâa and Santerâia emerged as an interrelated, Yoráubâa-inspired ritual complex, worshippers are driven to 'African Traditionalism' by its promise of efficacy: they find Yoráubâa approaches more powerful, potent, and efficacious. In the first book-length study on music and Ifâa, Ruthie Meadows draws on extensive, multi-sited fieldwork in Cuba and Yoráubâaland, Nigeria to examine the contentious 'Nigerian-style' ritual movement in Cuban Ifâa divination. Meadows uses feminist and queer of color theory along with critical studies of Africanity to excavate the relation between utility and affect within translocal ritual music circulations. Meadows traces how translocal Ifâa priestesses (áIyâanâifâa), female batâa drummers (bataleras), and priests (babalâawo) harness Yoráubâa-centric approaches to ritual music and sound to heighten efficacy, achieve desired ritual outcomes, and reshape the conditions of their lives. Within a contentious religious landscape marked by the idiosyncrasies of Revolutionary state policy, Nigerian-style Ifâa-áOráiðsáa is leveraged to reshape femininity and masculinity, state religious policy, and transatlantic ritual authority on the island'.

Seller Inventory # 9780226828954

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Efficacy of Sound : Power, Potency, and Promise in the Translocal Ritual Music of Cuban Ifá-Òrìsà
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press Nov 2023
• Publication Date: 2023
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0226828956
• ISBN 13: 9780226828954
• Binding: Taschenbuch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 229W x 152H x 15D millimeters 229 millimeters width by 152 millimeters height by 15 millimeters depth
• Weight: 381 grams

About this title

Synopsis

The first book-length ethnographic study on music and Ifá divination in Cuba and Nigeria.

Hailing from Cuba, Nigeria, and various sites across Latin America and the Caribbean, Ifá missionary-practitioners are transforming the landscape of Ifá divination and deity (òrìṣà/oricha) worship through transatlantic travel and reconnection. In Cuba, where Ifá and Santería emerged as an interrelated, Yorùbá-inspired ritual complex, worshippers are driven to “African traditionalism” by its promise of efficacy: they find Yorùbá approaches more powerful, potent, and efficacious.

In the first book-length study on music and Ifá, Ruthie Meadows draws on extensive, multisited fieldwork in Cuba and Yorùbáland, Nigeria, to examine the controversial “Nigerian-style” ritual movement in Cuban Ifá divination. Meadows uses feminist and queer of color theory along with critical studies of Africanity to excavate the relation between utility and affect within translocal ritual music circulations. Meadows traces how translocal Ifá priestesses (ìyánífá), female batá drummers (bataleras), and priests (babaláwo) harness Yorùbá-centric approaches to ritual music and sound to heighten efficacy, achieve desired ritual outcomes, and reshape the conditions of their lives. Within a contentious religious landscape marked by the idiosyncrasies of revolutionary state policy, Nigerian-style Ifá-Òrìṣà is leveraged to transform femininity and masculinity, state religious policy, and transatlantic ritual authority on the island.

About the Author

Ruthie Meadows is assistant professor of ethnomusicology at the University of Nevada, Reno.