Praise the Orisha: Marcus Portillo Dominguez and Group with "Kiri Nya Kiri Nya Agó/Eshu o Elegbara e"

Welcome to today's random tune, which was recorded way back in 1957 in Cuba! The song, consisting of mostly voices accompanied by some simple percussion, is called Kiri Nya Kiri Nya Agó/Eshu o Elegbara e (Song for Eleguá) and is performed by Marcus Portillo Domínguez and his group. They were field-recorded by Lydia Cabrera and Josefina Tarafa in 1957 just before Fidel Castro assumed control of Cuba and are part of a collection of music that records the music and religious customs of the the descendents of African slaves in Cuba. Unfortunately, there is no information on Marcus Portillo Dominguez, but the song is an invocation of Eleguá, an orisha or deity in the Santeria, Umbanda, Quimbanda, and Candomblé religions of Latin America and synonymous with Èṣù-Ẹlẹ́gbára in the African Yoruba religion. He is the deity of roads that must grant approval for any ritual or ceremony, and he is said to hold the keys to the past, present and future in the road of life that we travel. You can find Kiri Nya Kiri Nya Agó/Eshu o Elegbara e (Song for Eleguá) on the 2003 album Havana & Matanzas, Cuba, Ca. 1957: Batá, Bembé, and Palo Songs from the Historic Recordings of Lydia Cabrera and Josefina Tarafa.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elegua; http://latino.si.edu/virtualgallery/sabor/NYexperience/SalsaMusic_historicalReference-Cabrera.htm