In the Yoruba culture of West Africa, being able to connect with one’s inner divinity is called coolness (itutu). It’s becoming “filled with the Holy Ghost” in the Pentecostal Christian tradition or attaining yogic bliss through the practice of kirtan, singing the names of God - Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna. Vodou possession is not the hokey demon-possession of zombie movies it’s a state of union with the divine achieved through drumming, dancing and singing.
Their behavior in this possession was something Western society had never before tolerated. Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, James Brown, Janis Joplin, Tina Turner, Jim Morrison, Johnny Rotten, Prince - they let themselves be possessed not by any god they could name but by the spirit they felt in the music. The Voodoo rite of possession by the god became the standard of American performance in rock’n’roll. As Michael Ventura wrote in his important essay on rock music, “Hear that Long Snake Moan”: The roots of rock are in a West African word for dance - rak. We owe our concepts of cool, soul and rock and roll to it. Vodun was brutally repressed by slave-owners, yet its powerful beats, ethics and aesthetics endured. This was the religion of many slaves brought from West Africa to the Americas and the Caribbean. Vodou (the proper Kreyol/Creole spelling of Voodoo) is a neo-African religion that evolved in the New World from the 6000-year-old West African religion Vodun. I try to get there when I’m jamming with my band - but I didn’t realize until I wrote The Language of the Blues: From Alcorub to Zuzu how much this longing relates to West African spirituality, and the Voodoo concept of possession. Possessed: Voodoo’s Origins and Influence from the Blues to Britneyīlissed-out, ecstatic union with our divine selves - we seek it at raves and rock concerts, and in the desert with the Burning Man.
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