Full Moon Drum Circles for April & May

Friday, April 14, and Saturday, May 13, 2006. 5:30pm-8:30pm and possibly beyond
Full Moon Drum Circle. Beach behind Gladstone's Restaurant on PCH & Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA.
Open to all levels. Bring any kind of portable percussion instruments. Free! Please bring a healthy snack to share.

I look forward to seeing the usual as well as many new faces!!

If you plan to attend, please email me at kris@mythicrhythm.com

Candomblé Reflections

It has been a difficult re-entry. More difficult than I ever expected.

Coming home after only 6-weeks in Bahia, Brazil has been a shock to my system. My first grocery shopping trip, to Trader Joe's on De La Vina, was a disaster. The cashier spoke to me in English, and for the life of me, I could not understand a word she was saying! I think she was angry at me because I made her repeat herself about four times. I felt like an idiot, and this experience helped to deepen the depression I was already feeling. Classic separation anxiety?

In a way, it shows how much I assimilated to a new environment almost too well.

Shaun came home and exclaimed how he hated the American "green" money - no more Brazilian and Portuguese multi-colored designs and sea turtles on the currency. U.S. greenbacks reflect a lack of imagination.

Now, I've come back into a balance of "seeing through" our American culture with a little more compassion. I must be tolerant and all the while vigilant, for that is what both Brazil and Candomblé have taught me. I can't ignore the problems within our own culture, but I also can't stand back and sneer at the representations of mass media and consumerism. I'm beginning to imagine more and more, just how much mythology can enter into the heart of a problem, all the while accepting complexity, differences, shadow, and generate creative solutions.

The generative power of myth is completely natural. My intention is to continue to connect to creativity, imagination and the natural world: the big three that the Cartesian mindset seems to have forgotten. The body and the earth are venerated as much as the orixa (the African deities) in Candomblé. When showing reverance to an orixa, one must first bend down, touch the earth with one hand and then bring the hand up to touch the forehead and the back of the head. The mind and its processes are not looked down upon either.

During my first "jogo de buzios," a form of divination from Africa used to find out a person's life destiny, Mae Marinalva, Iyalorixa (high priestess) of the terreiro Bate Folha, told me:

Your mind is like a whirlwind - one day blowing this way, one day blowing that way. You have so many ideas in one minute that you are prone to much confusion in your life. But still you have many big ideas! Because you think like the wind you can triumph over anything - you will blow down any obstacles in your way!

It wasn't so much that she had me pegged that impressed me, it was the lack of judgement about my being completely scatter-brained most of the time. She could see that my problem was also an asset, and that it just was. I did not decifer any inkling of Marinalva trying to fix me or change me. I was accepted in whole. Now, to learn how to do that for myself and others!

Brazil has its own set of problems to be sure, but the people use their imaginations when it comes to finding solutions. One of the most ingenious ways, has been through the formation of drum groups to keep at-risk kids off of the streets. There are many of these groups forming all over Bahia, two of the most famous are Timbalada & Dida. To overcome the expense of needing an large amount of drums, members of the groups painted giant aluminum oil drums and put plastic heads on them to beat. It is believed that this is why there are so many women drummers in Salvador da Bahia.

Drumming is a healing and empowering activity. I made the trip to Bahia, Brazil for the purpose of conducting research for my dissertation at Pacifica Graduate Institute, yet it ended up defining my life's work in the most profound ways. Some of these paths I have known for a long time, while I believe new ones will reveal themselves on their own terms and in their own time.

- Kris Seraphine

"A Cidade Das Mulheres" Available on DVD

I found a gentleman that distributes and sells the documentary on Brazilian Candomblé and Mae Stella, A Cidade Das Mulheres. He also has two other documentaries on Salvador da Bahia also directed by Lazaro Faria, Orixas da Bahia & Mandinga em Manhattan.

His name is Eric Marinho and you can contact him via email or his cell phone:

Cell - 310-259-5283
Email - ericxcinema@yahoo.com

Here is what Ken Dossar at Temple University wrote about all three films:

BAHIA WEEK PREMIERS AFRICAN BRAZILIAN FILM FESTIVAL
The Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts will host the premiere of three documentary films by Brazilian producer/director Lazaro Faria. A resident of Salvador, Bahia, Faria is an film maker/anthropologist who uses his video camera to teach about his beloved country. Faria is an expert story-teller with an artist’s eye and sensibility to color and detail. His most recent award winning productions focus on two very important African-Brazilian subjects – Candomblé and Capoeira. Two of the festival entries focus on Candomblé – the practice of Yoruba based spiritual traditions in Salvador. The third production focuses of the African-Brazilian martial art Capoeira Angola. This will be the first showings in North American of these productions. All films are in Portuguese with English subtitles.

A Cidade das Mulheres

The documentary "Cidade das Mulheres" The City of Women is an absolute joy to watch. This documentary, directed by Lazaro Faria, presents an intimate view of Mae Stella de Oxossi who is perhaps the most influential figure in African religious traditions in Bahia. She is the head priestess from Axé Opó Afonjá founded in 1910, and which is one of the most important "terreiros" or African-Brazilian spiritual communities in Salvador, Bahia. In a gentle, yet self-assured manner Mae Stella, who has always been ahead of her time, explains from a feminine perspective the history of Candomblé in Bahia, and the matriarchal system of power created and controlled by the women who practice these traditions. Mae Stella also reveals details from her own life story and how she was called to her position. A tribute the many notable women who appear in the film, "Cidade das Mulheres" also pays tribute to Ruth Landes, the North-American anthropologist, who in the during the late nineteen-thirties, came to Bahia to perform research and was surprised by the spiritual, cultural and economic power held by women in Candomblé. She published her findings – The City of Women in 1947. Her intimate thoughts and impressions are illustrated in this sensitive documentary by images of popular festivities which celebrate African spiritual traditions, and the stunning natural beauty of the city of Salvador.

Orixas da Bahia

“Orixas da Bahia” is a documentary by Lazaro Faria that, through short dance and music vignettes and animation segments, captures the essential characteristics of the major spiritual forces that form the pantheon of Yoruba religious traditions in Bahia. Called Orixas, these nature based entities spiritually guide the lives of the faithful. Each orixa with its individual color coded beading and costuming represents an aspect or force of nature, and is reverenced on a specific week day, with special offering, and songs. Faria’s film explores the continuation of the elaborate system of belief in West African goddesses and gods that was transferred to Brazil during the more than 300 years of enslavement. In vivid colors and entrancing rhythms Orixas da Bahia transports the viewer to the natural richness and spiritual energy of Bahia.

Mandinga em Manhatten

Lazaro Faria’s most recent documentary “Mandinga em Manhattan” tells the story of the internationalization of the African Brazilian martial art – Capoeira Angola. The film’s title refers to the “mandinga” or magical quality shown by masters when they perform this art form. “Mandinga em Manhattan” highlights one of the grand masters of Capoeira Angola Joao Oliveira dos Santos, who after many years of absence from instructing students, began teaching again and relocated from Salvador to Manhattan in 1990. Once demonized and outlawed by the Brazilian government, capoeira today is being recognized by Brazil as one of its most important cultural treasures. Through interviews with scholars and capoeira practitioners the history of Capoeira is placed into its proper context.

One other documentary worth viewing on Candomblé is Ile Aye, by David Byrne of the Talking Heads. It gives a good introduction to the different orixa and how they look and dance during ceremony. This DVD can be purchased through Amazon.com or rented from Netflix.

I also just saw Quilombo, another documentary on Bahia. It is about the runaway slave colony called Palmares. When I went to Lencois I walked through a former quilombo named Remanso. I rented Quilombo through Netflix.

Happy viewing!

Long time, no write...

Today I'm finally getting back into the swing of things at home. It was shocking just to hear people speaking english; it was even more difficult not to answer them back in portuguese!

I have been writing up my fieldnotes in Brazil during my six-week trip and still am not finished. I'm trying to figure out a way to get some of it on the blog without tearing apart the sacred space within me that has developed from the experiences.

I believe it would be better to continue writing the material and then take a look at what aspects of Candomble and my personal experiences should be publicly shared. Some moments are too intimate -- it would be soul-destructive to expose those pieces that are still in process of integration.

On another note, I am planning drum workshops and drum retreats based on my work in Brazil. These will commence in May. If anyone can think of a beautiful space to hold the 3-hour workshops let me know. I'm in discussion with El Capitan Canyon to do a two day, overnight retreat. Of course, the issue of the noise factor and if it will be too disturbing to the other guests is being carefully considered.

Bright blessings,

Kris