Lucumi, A community Based Faith System

Last Year an initiative started in the United States called Oloshas United for Peace and Healing. The initiative involved wearing white for a certain number of days and organising and attending various ceremonies and other events for all of us, including the wider community. Last year I organised an open rehearsal with the London Lucumi Choir. We concentrated on singing songs to Obatala and Babalu Aye. I also organised for my Ile, a prayer meeting for healing and a Agbwan in front of Babalu Aye. This year as the 16 days drew to a close, esteemed Oba Willie Ramos asked us…

Ten Things: Exploding the myths!

I wrote this piece a while ago for an online magazine. It was in response to a request for some basic information regarding this terribly misunderstood way of life. In addition I think that in this day and age where there is a lot of information on the net, it does not hurt to add my perspective. If you are thinking of following this path, I would say that it is really important to educate yourself. Understand that this is a communal religion based on lineage and bare this in mind when you are on your journey. Because of the…

The most public of ceremony

I was inspired to write this post for several reasons. Firstly  because until recently I had held the only Tambors de Fundamento in the UK and secondly because I hope that any Olorisha that is reading this in the UK will understand  the importance of playing to your Orisha in the country where you live ( this is my Opinion!) and thirdly because of one of my major projects  as director and lead singer of the London Lucumi Choir has always brought up such interesting points. I have been a musician all my life so it is no surprise that…