the voodoo snake rhythm: w/mp3

Yanvalou is the rhythm for Damballah, the Cosmic snake Vodun. The undulatng dance for this rhythm is the wave made manifest



this drumming comes from "Angels In The Mirror": Vodou Music of Haiti
track 2: Port-Au-Prince Drumming Demonstration
and presents the Kongo rhythm as well as Yanvalou

Categories: voodoo, hoodoo, rootwork, rhythm, mp3

snakes and waves

The Wave in motion as the Universe, the undisturbed propagation of the 
Original Force as continuity in life is symbolized by the snake. 
Damballah, the snake Vodun of West Africa and Haiti, Shesha the cobra 
that the Hindu God Vishnu sleeps on, and the Naga (cobra) that the Hindu
God Shiva has wrapped around his neck are all symbols of this energy in
its cosmic dimension. Kundalini as Tantrics call it or Umbilini as the Zulu 
Sangoma call it is this force at work within the individual.

the Ocean- Kalunga

In Kongo cosmology this throb is called Kalunga.
Kalunga means Ocean in Kikongo. This Ocean, Kalunga, is the substance that physical reality floats in, the generator, transmitter and holder of the Wave of Existence.
Kalunga is said to be complete force by itself, the source of life, the force that continually generates.
Dr. Kia Bunseki Fu-Kiau states "Kalunga, the principle-god-of-change, is a force in motion, and because of that our earth and everything in it is in perpetual motion."
Kongolese cosmology further states that Kalunga, the Ocean, is the wall that separates the physical world from the spiritual world and functions as the door between these worlds.
When Kalunga waves its motion transmits the force of existence to this world through the forms of existence that vibrate at the frequency that opens its door.

the throb

When the universe began it began as a vibration, a throb,
"a kind of movement" Tantric philosophy says.
The technical term for this vibration is Spanda.
This throb, this "kind of movement" propagates through the universe.
It could be said that this vibration, this wave exists in different forms at
different levels of existence.
But the more correct way of viewing, Spanda, the vibratory wave is that this
wave exists as the different levels of existence.

strings

Saraswati, the Hindu Goddess who is the wife and Shakti (sansrkit meaning Power) of Brahma the Hindu Creator God, is a musician who plays the vina, a stringed instrument. This method of visioning the Power that Creates presages the string theory of quantum physics by hundreds of years.
The spider, whose self-emitted web is a spiraling string, is a Creator God to many of the African peoples who were forcibly emigrated to the States and is regarded as a wisdom figure by most.
In addition many if not most of the African peoples who ended up in the States believe that Heaven and Earth were once connected a rope or chain. They believed the Gods used this connection, this string, as a means to travel between realms.

everything exists as vibration

This concept is the bedrock of African and Tantric wisdom. In recent times it has come to be accepted by Western science as well.

what it be

This blog's gon' be 'bout the esoterica of sound from the African-American perspective.
Sound as Hoodoo. Sound as Rootwork.

invocation

I praise my Ancestors
all the way Back to the First One
I praise my Chi
I praise my Self
I praise the One whose vehicle is a Star
I praise God

peace