Track 9: Bara Suwa Yo – A Song for Eṣu (Complete)
The full version of this multidimensional song for Eṣu merges the cosmic, ethereal, and otherworldly with the playful, childlike, trickster energy. Bringing all these elements together reflects the multiple dimensionality of Eṣu’s essence—the understanding that this energy is everything and nothing all at once. In its fullness, this track stands alone as a complete expression of that powerful energy.
More about this track and its counterparts (The Beginning & The End)
This song holds many personal firsts for me. From present moving through past: it is the firstborn of the songs on this album; it was my first arrangement and composition when I began experimenting with Pro-Tools in 2007; and Eṣu is one of—if not the—first Oriṣa I learned about during my Afro-Latin Percussion Instruments class in 2003. Encountering this energy marked my first step into a deeper awareness of the pervasive erasure, demonization, and appropriation of African traditions and cultures—often driven by intentional manipulation, ignorant entitlement, savior complexes, or a combination thereof.
For me, the presence of this song and the intentional space I have given it on this album, combined with the ongoing colonial-influenced misunderstandings of Eṣu, form a way to break through what is neither mine nor my ancestors’. Through this work and this song in particular, I am called back to remember and embody our healed state. I love this song. I love Eṣu. And I am deeply grateful for the many paths he has helped me open and close.
This track is my arrangement of a series of Afro-Cuban Oricha songs dedicated to Eṣu. I preserved the lyrics as I learned and recalled them but took creative liberties with the vocal melodies and harmonies to fit the musical composition. I alternate and sometimes overlap traditional and non-traditional instrumentation and rhythms to honor the song’s multidimensionality. Originally recorded as one track, it naturally divides near the middle, with both parts able to stand independently. I honored this by allowing the song to exist in three forms: The Beginning, The End, and Complete. It is fitting that one of Eṣu’s sacred numbers is 3.
Track Credits
ONYI LOVE: Vocals, Piano, Shekere, Agogo (Cowbell)
Lazaro Galarraga: Bata
Bobby Wilmore: Bata
Greg Allison: Violin, Viola
JP Maramba: Upright Bass
Simon Carroll: Snare Drum
Tristan de Liège: String Co-Arrangement
Arranged, Composed, and Produced by ONYI LOVE
Recorded, Mixed, and Co-Produced by Bobby Easton at Fuzzy Sound Lab
Mastered by Nic Chaffee at Woodshed Music
Did this track speak to your spirit?
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