Orishas (band)

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Orishas

Background information
Origin Flag of Cuba Havana, Cuba
Genre(s) Latin Hip-Hop
Hip-Hop
Alternative Hip-Hop
Years active 1999-present
Label(s) Universal Latino Label
Website Orishas Official
Members
Ruzzo Medina
Yotuel Romero
Roldan Gonzalez
Former members
Flaco-Pro

Orishas is a hip-hop group whose members had emigrated from Cuba. They were first called the “Amenaza” [1] meaning "menace" and appealed to the Cuban youth who were hungry for American pop culture which consisted of hip hop and rap. The Orishas delved into a realm of music in which they challenged “Castro’s ideal of a colorless society” and created a black identity that the younger generations could relate to. They tackled important and obvious issues that dark skinned Cubans faced everyday though the government refused to recognize. [2] Their music describes social problems on the peripheries of Havana which were largely a result of the end of Soviet subsidies to Cuba in the early 1990s.[3]

The group is very popular in Europe (especially France and Spain) and Latin America. Yotuel and Ruzzo, two Cubans who moved from Havana to Paris as part of an international studies program, joined Roldan and Flaco-Pro to form the band in 1999. Their work is influenced by the hip-hop movement as well as both Latin and Cuban rhythms. As of May 2008, they have produced a total of 3 studio albums and a greatest hits album.

The name “Orishas” refers to the set of deities worshipped in African-based religions that were brought to the Americas by slaves of the Yoruba people in West Africa. These religions, parts of the Yoruba mythology, include Santeria in Cuba and Candomblé in Brazil. These orishas, or deities, each represent a natural element (such as the ocean or leaves) and exhibit a human characteristic (such as motherhood or love).[4] The choice of this name for the hip hop group is a way of creating a direct link between this band and the African diaspora. This link is evident in the lyrics to "Nací Orichas" and "I Sing For Elewa and Changó". Creating such obvious references to Africa was an interesting choice as the band ultimately based itself in Europe. This success is a statement to both the international appeal of the group itself as well as the global popularity of Cuban culture.[5]

Currently the band consists of only three members, Yotuel, Ruzzo and Roldan. Flaco-Pro left the group in 2002 before the release of their second studio album, Emigrante[6].

Today, the band members live distributed in Europe (Roldán in Paris, Ruzzo in Milan, and Yotuel in Madrid). In total, after producing three albums, the group known as Orishas has sold more than 750,000 copies of its albums in Europe and has received two Grammys. In 2007, they contributed with Puerto Rican group, Calle 13, on the song "Pa'l Norte" (featured on the album Residente o Visitante). The song won a Latin Grammy for Best Urban Song.

Cosita Buena will be the fourth studio album by Orishas set to release June 3, 2008 as noted on their myspace website.

Contents

[edit] Origins and Rise of International Popularity

Orishas, originally named Amenaza (Threat), began as a Cuban rap group in the early 1990s. Led by Joel Pando, Orishas became the first rappers to address issue of racial identity in Cuban society. [7] This was especially important because Fidel Castro’s government promotes a colorless society in which racial differences are to be ignored. Although Castro administration tried to promote unity through the genre of Cuban hip hop the Orishas pertained to, the Orishas brought to light the bigotry that dark skinned Afro Cubans endured, namely the assumpetion that Afro Cubans had an affinity to crime. The Orishas brought pride to Afro Cubans in Cuba as they were one of the first Afro Cuban hip hop groups to shed light on the bigotry that hid under the facade of the Castro administration.[8] In 1998 the members of Orishas traveled to Paris to perform and accepted a record deal with a European label. [9] The transition to Europe was critical in their musical career, as many rap groups in Cuba lacked the resources for professional recordings. In fact, of the hundreds of rappers in Cuba, Orishas is the only group that achieved international acclaim. [10] But despite their international acclaim, the Orishas were somewhat of a disappointment to the Afro Cuban community in Cuba as they began to add rhumba and salsa beats to their music. By doing so Afro Cubans believed that the Orishas became sellouts instead of maintaining their political musical edge that represented the pride of the Afro Cuban community of being both African and Cuban. [11]

Their first album ‘A Lo Cubano’ was released in Spain in May 1999. In the summer of 1999, Orishas began a two-year tour across Europe and the United States, which brought them great international attention. In December 2000, Orishas returned to Cuba to perform two concerts, attracting tens of thousands of young Cubans. [12] As one of Cuba’s pioneer rap groups, Orisha earned international fame at both home and abroad.

Orishas never returned home to Cuba; the members of the trio currently live in different European cities, with the band based in France. [13] They have also incorporated traditional Cuban beats such as salsa and rumba into their rapping, an angle that brings appeal to older Cubans but makes today’s aspiring young Cuban rappers “look at them with both awe and disappointment” for “selling out to commercial pressures to evoke Cuban nostalgia.” [14] Roldan of Orishas himself, however, has a tendency towards traditional Cuban music, and purposely distances his music from stereotypical characteristics of hip-hop, such as the treating of women purely as sex objects and “everything [else] you do in U.S. hip hop shows”. [15]

[edit] Controversy

Within the Cuban Hip-hop scene, and particularly in regards to a well-known band like the Orishas, there is a lot of controversy concerning the exploitation of traditional Cuban music, rhythms, and beats to a foreign, American audience. After the band relocated to Paris to begin recording their music, they began to add salsa and rumba beats to a style of music that had originally contained neither. [16] Also referred to as 'selling out', the Orishas have been accused of commercialization and capitalism at the cost of their authenticity. [17] Examples of such actions include selling their songs to Hollywood. "Represent, Cuba" was featured on the soundtrack of the 2004 movie 'Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights.' [18] But the Orishas themselves do not feel they are selling out, rather, they are claiming that it is hard to break out into the American music scene. Although turnouts at their concerts all over the world are numbering in the thousands, in an interview, the members of the band expressed a difficulty in connecting to their foreign and global audiences. [19]

[edit] Discography

Studio Albums

Greatest Hits

[edit] Music Videos

  • "A Lo Cubano" (A Lo Cubano)
  • "537 C.U.B.A." (A Lo Cubano)
  • "Represent, Cuba" (A Lo Cubano)
  • "Que Pasa" (Emigrante)
  • "Habana" (Emigrante)
  • "Naci Orishas" (El Kilo)
  • "El Kilo" (El Kilo)
  • "Hay Un Son" (Antidiotico)

[edit] Film Soundtrack

[edit] Band Members

[edit] Current

  • Roldan (Roldán González Rivero) - (1999-present)
  • Ruzzo (Hiram Riverí Medina) - (1999-present)
  • Yotuel (Yotuel Omar Romero Manzanares) - (1999-present)

[edit] Former

  • Flaco-Pro - (1999-2002)

[edit] References

  1. ^ Amenaza: Cuban rap
  2. ^ Wunderlich, Annelise. “Cuban Hip-hop: Making Space for New Voices of Dissent.” In The Vinyl Ain’t Final: Hip Hop and the Globalization of Black Popular Culture, ed. by Dipannita Basu and Sidney J. Lemelle, 168.
  3. ^ Baker, Geoffrey. 2005. "Hip Hop, Revolucion! Nationalizing Rap in Cuba." Ethnomusicology 49, no. 3: 368-402
  4. ^ "Portal Orixás Afrodescendente" http://orixas.com.br/portal3/
  5. ^ Baker, Geoffrey. 2006. "La Habana que no conoces: Cuban rap and the social construction of urban space." Ethnomusicology Forum 15, no. 2: 215-46
  6. ^ http://www.orishasthebest.com/Index2.html
  7. ^ Wunderlich, Annelise. “Cuban Hip-hop: Making Space for New Voices of Dissent.” In The Vinyl Ain’t Final: Hip Hop and the Globalization of Black Popular Culture, ed. by Dipannita Basu and Sidney J. Lemelle, 168.
  8. ^ Wunderlich, Annelise. “Cuban Hip-hop: Making Space for New Voices of Dissent.” In The Vinyl Ain’t Final: Hip Hop and the Globalization of Black Popular Culture, ed. by Dipannita Basu and Sidney J. Lemelle, 168.
  9. ^ Wunderlich, Annelise. “Cuban Hip-hop: Making Space for New Voices of Dissent.” In The Vinyl Ain’t Final: Hip Hop and the Globalization of Black Popular Culture, ed. by Dipannita Basu and Sidney J. Lemelle, 168.
  10. ^ Wunderlich, Annelise. “Cuban Hip-hop: Making Space for New Voices of Dissent.” In The Vinyl Ain’t Final: Hip Hop and the Globalization of Black Popular Culture, ed. by Dipannita Basu and Sidney J. Lemelle, 168.
  11. ^ Wunderlich, Annelise. “Cuban Hip-hop: Making Space for New Voices of Dissent.” In The Vinyl Ain’t Final: Hip Hop and the Globalization of Black Popular Culture, ed. by Dipannita Basu and Sidney J. Lemelle, 168.
  12. ^ Orishas Biography. EMI Music Canada. Retrieved on 2008-02-06.
  13. ^ Music
  14. ^ Wunderlich, Annelise. “Cuban Hip-hop: Making Space for New Voices of Dissent.” In The Vinyl Ain’t Final: Hip Hop and the Globalization of Black Popular Culture, ed. by Dipannita Basu and Sidney J. Lemelle, 168-169.
  15. ^ Music
  16. ^ Wunderlich, Annelise. “Cuban Hip-hop: Making Space for New Voices of Dissent.” In The Vinyl Ain’t Final: Hip Hop and the Globalization of Black Popular Culture, ed. by Dipannita Basu and Sidney J. Lemelle, 168.
  17. ^ Wunderlich, Annelise. “Cuban Hip-hop: Making Space for New Voices of Dissent.” In The Vinyl Ain’t Final: Hip Hop and the Globalization of Black Popular Culture, ed. by Dipannita Basu and Sidney J. Lemelle, 168.
  18. ^ Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights (2004) - Soundtracks
  19. ^ Music

[edit] External links

Cuba Portal
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