Güemilere Afro-Cuban – Dance
A güemilere (also wemilere, tambor or toque de santo) is a public ceremony for the orishas in santería, with batá drums, song and dance. Sometimes an orisha takes possession of a believer.
Güemilere and bembé
According to Amira & Cornelius, santería has two kinds of public music ceremonies: the bembé (also tambor con güiro), with congas, and the güemilere, with batá drums. Both honour the orishas, for example on an orisha's feast day, on the anniversary of someone's initiation, or in gratitude for a favour. Balbuena Gutiérrez lists the güemilere (Tambor, Wemilere or Batá) as one of the celebrations for the orishas in Matanzas, with consecrated drums (añá or de fundamento) or unconsecrated ones (aberikulá).
The structure
- Oru seco (oru del igbodú): in relative silence, before a specially built altar, the drums play a toque for each orisha, without singing. Some musicians see this as the most important part.
- Oru cantado (oru del eyá aranla): in the main room the lead singer (akpwón) leads the call-and-response singing. Each santero is called forward to dance when the music of their orisha is played.
- Zan balo ("patio"): a freer section in which the singer steers the ceremony towards whatever draws the most participation. Possession is most likely here.
- Cierre: again mainly instrumental, with toques for the Egún and several orishas.
Dance and possession
According to EcuRed (on drum feasts for the orishas), each orisha has its own rhythms and its own dance: Yemayá's imitates the waves, Oggún's the cutting with the machete, Ochún's the way she preens before her hand mirror. The dances are seen more as prayers than as "dance" in the Western sense. An orisha may "mount" a consecrated priest; when it mounts an uninitiated person (aleyo), this usually signals that the person should be initiated. See also the orisha dances.