The 24 tracks featured on this compilation are aural snapshots of Haitian Vodoun, Cuban Santeria, Trinidadian Shango, and Brazilian Candomble religious ceremonies. They were originally recorded between the late '30s and the mid-'50s by such notable ethnologists as
Laura Boulton
,
Melville Herskovits
, and
Lydia Cabrera
. Culturally speaking, these recordings highlight African diasporic religions that originated with the Yoruba and Dahomean peoples and were brought to the New World with enslaved Africans. Retrieved from deep storage at the Library of Congress and digitally remastered by a team of audio experts,
The Yoruba/Dahomean Collection: Orishas Across the Ocean
is a powerful audio record that documents both the proud cultural legacy and sophisticated musical practices associated with Afro-Caribbean and Afro-Brazilian cultures. ~ John Vallier