BembeAmbience: Bembe Celebration, drums, singingSantiago, Cuba, 2001. Some friends and I were invited to a Bembe, a religious celebration based on the worship of Afro-Cuban deities. I’m Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet.The name Bembe is also used to describe a genre of music and a kind of drum. This celebration took place in a private home, where the living room had been turned into a shrine filled with offerings of food. There were drummers, singers and those who danced and sometimes became possessed by a spirit of the gods.One of the drummers told me that occasionally people faked getting possessed. “How can you tell?” I asked.He said, “When they can eat broken glass, we know they’re not faking.”I’m Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet.
Bembe
A musical invocation to Afro-Cuban gods.
Air Date:01/25/2021
Scientist:
Transcript:
BembeAmbience: Bembe Celebration, drums, singingSantiago, Cuba, 2001. Some friends and I were invited to a Bembe, a religious celebration based on the worship of Afro-Cuban deities. I'm Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet.The name Bembe is also used to describe a genre of music and a kind of drum. This celebration took place in a private home, where the living room had been turned into a shrine filled with offerings of food. There were drummers, singers and those who danced and sometimes became possessed by a spirit of the gods.One of the drummers told me that occasionally people faked getting possessed. "How can you tell?" I asked.He said, "When they can eat broken glass, we know they're not faking."I'm Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet.