ÌFÉ Releases “Music for Egun Movement”

<p>Led by Otura Mun, an Ifa <em>babalawo </em>(priest of Orisha worship), the Puerto Rican-based group ÌFÉ has been recasting Yoruba sacred music in contemporary instrumentation and arrangements. This week, the band released an intimate, three-song EP of Yoruban prayer songs, honoring the deceased, an aural balm for a year of loss.</p> <iframe loading="lazy" style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 470px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=653387602/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" seamless=""><a href="https://grupoife.bandcamp.com/album/the-living-dead-ash-bogbo-egun-ep">The Living Dead | Ashé Bogbo Egun - EP by ÌFÉ</a></iframe> <p>Electronic instrumentation can be used to sound cold or alienated, but ÌFÉ’s new EP finds the group using electronic drums and auto-tune-affected vocals used in a deeply human manner, singing the sacred melodies and rhythms passed from West Africa to the Caribbean in a new manner.</p> <p>"One of the things that has helped me confront the difficulty in dealing with the sadness and pain around us is a belief that death in the physical world is not the end. As part of my daily spiritual practice, I commune with my ancestors,” Mun says. “We are all on the same wheel of life at different points. As we approach the end of 2020, I felt that it was important to acknowledge and celebrate those who have passed before us. Ashé Bogbo Egun, 'power to all deceased.'" </p> <p>The EP is available <a href="https://grupoife.bandcamp.com/album/the-living-dead-ash-bogbo-egun-ep">on limited edition vinyl from Bandcamp.</a></p>