Disc 11 Side B (22’16”)
Itutu. Fernando Hernández and ensemble.
Funerary Ritual.[1]
Fernando Hernández, “cantador de Egun,” belongs to the Sotomayor ensemble, and he is linked to them by the bonds of spiritual kinship created by the “Birth in the Santo” — initiation — of the slaves from Arrati mentioned above. [See Discs 3A, 3B, and 4A.]
Itutu is the ceremony performed before burying the cadaver of a deceased Iyalocha, Baba orisha, or Babalao (priest of Ifá, Orula), in order to consult the spirit of the deceased and honor their wishes and those of their guardian Orisha. That way, their spirit departs “fresh” — tutu — and gentle to their other life. They designate the inheritors of the sacred stones they possessed, the stone in which the orishas materialized and received worship, and they specify, in agreement with the gods, which should accompany the deceased in the grave, in case their Orishas “don’t want to stay on earth” or the deceased does not consent to parting with them.
The consultation is performed by means of the Diloggún — the divination shells. In this ritual, which is conducted in secret in the rear room of the mortuary and cannot be attended by the uninitiated, the rezos are sung in a low voice. Therefore, it is not precisely accurate to refer to these songs accompanied by drumming as Itutu.
These take place in another ceremony which our Lucumí priests call Levantamiento del Plato (Sp: The Lifting or Removing of the Plate), which is celebrated, if possible, on the anniversary of the death of the priest, with the sacrifice of a pig in the case of the Egun or spirit of Babalao, or those animals (ram or goat) consecrated to the Orisha of the deceased Omó (Lucumí: child).
It is called “Levantamiento del plato” because a plate the deceased used to eat is broken on a street corner, thereby liberating the Egun completely from life’s necessities. But sacrifices with toques in honor of the Ikú — los muertos, the dead — are presided over by Oya, and the resulting dances occur continuously (not only for a Levantamiento del Plato, because honoring the Egun, feeding the souls of the ancestors — the series of deceased parents, Iyá and Babá, godfathers and godmothers, uncles and siblings which constitute the spiritual family of initiates — is necessary for the well-being of the living.
The Oro for Egun begins, naturally, with a salute to Elegua, “who is also the First Egun.”
Agó Agolona adé. Arawá é arayé.
Agó wá Ogún Onile. Moyé lo fa rá mó tumbá.
Omodé ré le mo bé lése okán loro, Ikú yóko.
Móle iyá te ré Iyá alaguana[2] ode wari wari.
Yen yé móba kimo sé bé ru awao.
Moba oyaré ma bá le iyo modei mo kúlé.
Iyeo mo ta únle ye ikú omó otá,
Inle yéo e ... Akatá isá yá mi lo wé.
Awá mi re lé awó mi ogué re re.
Okonilé ré rá é okuá mi lo é, okomi le bé wá okonile re rá.
Disc 12 Side A (25’58”)
Teni teni ikú ba wá yo.
Kori wá yá ké te koriwa yá kete lagún.
Ibaragó Agó Eleguara. Lo dé lo dé bembé kini bembesé bemé ara ochó.
Ikú re ló unló eró unlo lo únle.
Sogué, sogué sogué Dominico Makondo ikú
la mi tó sondá Babawá. Oniké keré keré
Oyá ban solá la bá la bá kú. Modé wá
itó ló mi ré oni Yeyé polú alabá.
Moforibale fó lú bodé añaga lu wa yo.
Disc 12 Side B (11’46”)
Ikú laé iro ilé ilú lao.
Owere owere owere okó were mayá wé.
Mo yo lá ewó oludu bi omini kele eba ó yo to.
Omai sóro erunla, mai soro, maisoro mai kóko.
Iyé mo fu inaré mó winá were.
Agüe un wé yo modele eip ... awere yo.
Awó ikú iyé kun awó de ke dé.
Iyé módé orissa de ké awaó modé orissa fu mi rá.
A wao, awá deké kué lu odara.
Ebe oro, be modé oro omodé.