WolfHawkJaguar ft. Zion Trinity "CLEANSE"

I enjoyed this short film by Wolfhawk Jaguar as part of Oakland's BAMBD FEST BLACK AUGUST 2020. Yes, in this era of Covid19 we need a purification ritual and his adaptation of the Yoruba myth-rituals is a breath of fresh air in this toxic jungle. As a dramatist, I love the Yoruba dramatization of their mythology and rituals that go back thousands of years. Of course being in Harlem, 1968, one could not avoid the flamboyant Yoruba high priest Baba Serjiman Olatunji and his acolytes and sycophants who paraded through the streets of Harlem in their multi-colored African outfits. Alas, Baba Olatunji is credited with introducing the Dashiki to North American Africans. For a time, Amiri Baraka was influenced by the Yoruba religion. It was Baba Olatunji who officiated his marriage to Amina Baraka. Baraka's classic play A Black Mass is a syncretism of Yoruba and Islamic mythology, and is an original attempt at merging Islam and Yoruba religion for North American Africans. Wolfhawk Jaguar's short film is another attempt to put the Yoruba religion in the context of North American African myth-ritual. As beautiful and refreshing as it is, it falls short in the critical area of drumming. Perhaps to attract the Hip Hop audience, we do not hear the powerful bata drums and other drumming of the Yoruba and other African rituals. We hear what I suppose is Afro-beat sounds but not the awesome beats that do indeed cleanse and heal the heart, the Black hearts, as Amiri Baraka might say. I enjoyed the choreography that so often represents Yoruba storying telling. 

After Baba Olatunji's Harlem days, he moved his Yoruba community to Sheldon, South Carolina, and I have made several visits to this African Village, before the transition of Olatunji and after his son inherited the kingship. I have been overwhelmed with the beautiful Yoruba storytelling through choreography and ritual, so this short film is a teaser for those interested in the Yoruba religion. Thank you Mr. Wolfhawk Jaguar and your acolytes and sycophants.  

--Marvin X