Santisimo is the sacred union of the divine ashé communing as one with a chosen devotee
Santeria
In the CD Santisimo, Emilio Barreto, Amelia Pedroso and Orlando "Puntilla" Rios lead their chorus of worshippers through a complex liturgy of songs that involve the musical method of call and response typically heard in Africa. Ceremonial singers known as akpon and drummers called olubata access ashé to purify the ritual atmosphere and induce trance in a devotee. In this way the ancient wisdom of the orishas is imparted to the world. The drums used in this recording are called batá. They consist of three double headed drums that appear similar in shape to an hourglass. It is the polytonal phrasing of the batá drum which communicates the Yoruba language to the orishas.
Santeria or the Lucumí tradition, is derived primarily from the Yoruba religion of Nigeria. The Yoruba religion is based on one God, Olodumare, and the deified forces of nature known as orishas. The forces of nature best illustrate life's cyclical process of birth, maturation, death, and rebirth. Respect and reverence given to the natural world are the principles that most impact Santeria's pantheon of deities, its methods of worship, forms of divination, and ritual sacrifice. A fundamental belief held by the Yoruba is that all things have an intrinsic energy called ashé. The ashé found in singing, drumming and dancing all meet to create a powerful link with the divine through the medium of music.
The Santisimo Concept
Drummers and singers however, quickly learn that simply playing the drum or repeating the words alone does not establish a divine link. They learn that the passion expressed while singing and drumming also brings with it manifestations that often times astonish the very individuals who try to produce it. The depths of divine expression can only be truly understood through one's own heightened awareness and spiritual development. It is the profound renewal experienced in the unfolding of ashé through sacred worship that causes practitioners of ancient religious musical traditions to choose their calling and thus part take in "The Santisimo Experience."
In the preservation of the Yoruba religion in Cuba, the imposition of the Roman Catholic religion upon descendants of enslaved Yoruba provided an unlikely vehicle for key religious tenets to survive. For example, the concept of "Santisimo" in Catholicism is analogous to the Olofi in Santeria. Specifically "The Most High" and the idea of the consecrating the Eucharist into the "body and blood of Christ" during Holy Communion is akin to the divine ashé of the orisha "communing" as one with a chosen devotee. It is the manifestation of this sacred union that confirms the divinity within us.