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The Concept of Achã© and the Function of Music in Orisha Spirit

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The Concept of Achã© and the Function of Music in Orisha Spirit Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2013 Aché, Music, and Spiritual Experience: The Concept of Aché and the Function of Music in Orisha Spirit Possession Vanessa M. Navarro Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF MUSIC ACHÉ, MUSIC, AND SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE: THE CONCEPT OF ACHÉ AND THE FUNCTION OF MUSIC IN ORISHA SPIRIT POSSESSION By VANESSA M. NAVARRO A Thesis submitted to the College of Music in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Music Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2013 i Vanessa Navarro defended this thesis on April 11, 2013. The members of the supervisory committee were: Frank Gunderson Professor Directing Thesis Michael B. Bakan Committee Member Joseph Hellweg Committee Member The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members, and certifies that the thesis has been approved in accordance with university requirements. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my thesis advisor Dr. Frank Gunderson for his limitless enthusiasm, encouragement, and hard work. I would also like to thank Dr. Michael Bakan for his guidance and advice throughout this project and Dr. Joseph Hellweg for his contributions and participation on my committee. I am extremely grateful to the individuals who shared their time and thoughts with me and for the incredible conversations we shared: Lisa Beckley-Roberts, Khari Clemmons, Wilbur Davis, Akin Lowman, Bill Lowman, Miguel "Willie" Ramos, Ezequiel Torres, those who chose to go by the names Apeti Oshun and Alfred Hitchcock, and all those who wish to remain anonymous. I would like to thank my family and friends for their support, constant encouragement, and often irrational confidence in my abilities. Finally, I thank my comrades Mia Gormandy and Felicia Youngblood for listening to my ramblings on many occasions and for sticking with me through these two tough but wonderful years. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS NOTES ON ORTHOGRAPHY, TRANSCRIPTIONS, AND TRANSLATIONS……………. vi LIST OF FIGURES…………………………………………………………………………... viii ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………………………….ix 1. INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………………………… 1 1.1 Purpose and Significance………………………………………………………………... 2 1.2 Survey of Literature……………………………………………………………………... 4 1.3 Methodology…………………………………………………………………………….. 6 1.4 Stance……………………………………………………………………………………. 7 2. BACKGROUND INFORMATION………………………………………………………... 10 2.1 Historical Background…………………………………………………………………. 10 2.2 Modern Practices………………………………………………………………………. 14 2.3 Differences in Differentiation………………………………………………………….. 15 2.4 Religious Communities and Organization……………………………………………... 15 2.5 Introduction to Orisha Spirit Possession………………………………………………. 16 3. EXPLORING ACHÉ……………………………………………………………………….. 19 3.1 Challenge Accepted: Describing Inexplicable Aché……………………………………….. 19 3.2 Aché and Power……………………………………………………………………….. 23 3.3 Making Change through the Currency of Aché………………………………………... 26 3.4 Creating Change and Fulfilling Destiny………………………………………………. 29 4. MAKING MUSIC, MAKING ACHÉ……………………………………………………… 37 4.1 Creating the Sacred……………………………………………………………………. 38 4.2 Aché as Sound…………………………………………………………………………. 42 4.3 Music as Technology…………………………………………………………………... 45 4.4 Mechanisms for Creating, Harnessing, and Manipulating Aché………………………. 46 5. DYNAMICS OF ACHÉ IN RITUAL……………………………………………………… 62 iv 5.1 Position, Stance, and Aché…………………………………………………………….. 63 5.2 Roles…………………………………………………………………………………… 66 5.3 Interactions, Exchanges, and Communications between Roles……………………….. 78 6. RELIGION, SCIENCE, AND ACHÉ…………………………………………………….. 102 6.1 Personal Perspective………………………………………………………………… 103 6.2 The Science of Aché………………………………………………………………… 105 6.3 The Humanity of Aché……………………………………………………………… 107 6.4 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………... 109 APPENDICES……………………………………………………………………………….. 111 A. LIST OF INTERVIEWS CITED……………………………………………………… 111 B. SURVEY QUESTIONS……………………………………………………………….. 112 C. SURVEY RESULTS…………………………………………………………………... 113 D. INTERVIEW QUESTIONS…………………………………………………………… 125 E. HUMAN SUBJECTS COMMITTEE APPROVAL MEMORANDUM…………….. .128 F. INTERVIEW CONSENT FORM…………………………………………………….. 131 REFERENCES……………………………………………………………………………… 134 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH………………………………………………………………… 137 v NOTES ON ORTHOGRAPHY, TRANSCRIPTIONS, AND TRANSLATIONS Aché Spelling Disclaimer There are several different ways to spell aché, such as ache, ashe/ashé, aṣe, ase/asé, and axé. This is a Pan-African concept that has taken on many spellings as it traveled from Africa to the Caribbean and the Americas through the Middle Passage. The accent on the e varies and is sometimes omitted, depending on the source. In order to discuss this concept in a simple, consistent, and clear manner, I use the spelling “aché” in all instances except when quoting literature that uses these alternate spellings. A Note on Italicized Terms I include terms and phrases from the Spanish, Lukumi, and Yoruba languages. Individual words are italicized when they are first mentioned but will not be italicized after their first appearance in the narrative, beginning in Chapter 1. A word may be italicized after its first appearance only if it is used sparingly and has not been used recently in order to avoid confusion for the reader. Entire sentences or passages in one of these languages are italicized and followed by the English translation. The word "aché" remains italicized throughout because it can easily be mistaken for the English word "ache." Similarly, the Spanish word "resolver" is italicized every time it appears because it may be easily mistaken for the English word "resolver." Words that are italicized in quotations from books and articles are formatted according to their original published format. There are also various italicized passages (in English) at the beginning of chapters and sub-sections of chapters. Accounts of fieldwork experiences are also presented as italicized passages. vi A Note on Transcript Passages and Survey Results Throughout this narrative, an asterisk (*) is used to identify oral sources. Citation information for these sources can be found in Appendix A. After first mention, I use the first name or nickname of the individuals cited. I felt it would seem inappropriately distant and impersonal to refer to these individuals by their full or last names due to the personal and intimate nature of the topics we discussed during our interviews. The survey questions are listed in Appendix B, and all survey results are presented in Appendix C. Throughout this discussion, I will refer to survey participants as Survey Participant 1, 2, etc. and will identify them with a double asterisk (**). Their responses are listed in Appendix C in their entirety under these titles (Survey Participant 1, etc.). I also present large segments of passages from interview transcriptions. I have presented these passages in their entirety instead of breaking them up or paraphrasing them for the following reasons: First, I had the good fortune to speak with highly intelligent, enthusiastic, and eloquent story tellers. If I were to break up their thoughts into tiny segments, it would diminish the power of their words and would actually make it more difficult to understand the points they were trying to make. Second, it is a matter of taste. I prefer reading lengthy passages when I read ethnographies because it helps me to better locate and understand the voices of specific individuals. vii LIST OF FIGURES 4.1 Definitions of Aché: Specific Manifestations in Ritual and Actors Involved………… 47 5.1 Dynamics, Interactions, and Cues in Spirit Possession Process between Musicians, Chorus, and Horse……………………………………………………………………. 79 5.2 Dynamics, Interactions, and Cues in Spirit Possession Process between Akpwon, Drummers, and Chorus………………………………………………………………. 87 5.3 Dynamics, Interactions, and Cues in Spirit Possession Process between Participants and Orishas……………………………………………………………………………. 91 viii ABSTRACT This thesis explores the ways that practitioners in orisha worshipping traditions conceptualize aché in relation to the function of music and performance in spirit possession ceremonies. Aché is a concept generally defined as divine force, power, or energy. I investigate the ways that practitioners experience, conceptualize, and perform the physical and spiritual functions of ceremonial music in order to understand the dynamics, interactions, and communicative exchanges between performers and participants. This discussion explores the multiple manifestations of aché throughout the ritual and the ways that the roles of drummers, dancers, singers, and other musicians interact to harness and manipulate physical and spiritual energies (aché) during the process of facilitating spirit possession. I argue that music and performance are used as complex, highly specialized technologies for harnessing and manipulating the energy of aché throughout a process of interactions between musicians and participants, leading to the ultimate goal of the ceremony– orisha spirit possession. I conclude that this process is as much methodical as it is spiritual, and I deliberate over the significance of faith and experience in religious and scientific matters in order to discuss my understanding of the concept of aché as a phenomenon. Based on practitioners’ conceptualizations of aché, I argue that this force functions along the principles of physics,
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