Sacred Music
name: label: Collection Creator
content: Smithsonian Institution. Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
setName: label: See more items in
content: Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 2016 Smithsonian Folklife Festival
label: See more items in
content: Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 2016 Smithsonian Folklife Festival / Series 4: Sounds of California / Audio
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 1 Sound recording (digital audio file)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 2016 July 10
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections
identifier: label: Identifier
content: CFCH.SFF.2016, Item SFF2016_0710_SOCA_Stage_and_Plaza_0007
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: Listening copies available
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Gladys Simmons; Preston Jefferson Arrow-weed; John Santos; Martha Rodriguez; Stan Rodriguez; Michael Mason This session brings together master percussionist and band leader John Santos, vocalist/ composer/Yoruba-Lucumi priestess Bobi Céspedes, and Quechan/Kamya elder and tribal singer Preston Arrow-weed in a discussion about sacred music traditions. The John Santos Sextet is one of the premier Latin jazz ensembles in the world. Born in San Francisco, bandleader Santos was raised in the Puerto Rican and Cape Verdean traditions of his family and surrounded by the fertile musical environment of the Bay Area.Bobi Céspedes izes in the Cuban son and Afro-Caribbean music, culture, and tradition, and her spirituality has informed her lyrics and music. She has been a lead singer and musical artistic director for the twelve piece Cuban dance band Conjunto Céspedes and the folkloric ensemble Siguarilla, which features Orisha song presentations. Her debut solo album Rezos, released in 2013, sings of divinations to the orishas of her religion. Preston Arrow-weed is an educator, environmentalist, actor, playwright, and singer with a deep and comprehensive understanding of tribal songs, history, and ceremony. He is one of only a few who know the sacred songs celebrating the rites of passage from birth to death—and who can sing them in the correct order. He is the last singer of Urave, the Quechan Lightning Song.