Axé Orixá is a filmic journey towards our deeper roots in the universe. Focusing on the music and dance of the ritual traditions of Brazil’s Candomblé, seven orixás (nature deities) guide us through a series of dreams as we begin to grasp the concept of axé and what it means in our lives. Between the folds of this surreal fabric, Bahia’s greatest musicians and legendary dancers await us to describe this phenomenon and how it pervades their spiritual realities into their everyday lives.

AXÉ ORIXÁ is the brain child of Layne Redmond, renowned drummer and artistic visionary, who has been graced with the collaborative trust of many of the greatest creative visionaries in Bahia, choreographer Rosangela Silvestre, singer and performer Mariella Santiago, sound engineer, musician and cameraman Tadeu Mascarenhas, Pae do Santo, singer and dancer Gilmar Sampaio, and many of the singers, dancers and musicians from the internationally renowned Balé Folclórico da Bahia. On October 28, 2013, Layne left her earthly body behind, though her spirit lives on, in the words and songs she so graciously chose to share…in the rhythms and traditions carried on by those around the world. This film, too, is an extension of that spirit, as it also is an extension of our ancestor spirits. Iansan, Iemanja, and Oxalá (Layne’s closest orixás) are strongly present as this film weaves its way into the physical realm.

Computational media artist Daniel Sabio has come on board here in the US as a key collaborator for the film. His roles extend as far as production coordinator, editor, and co-director. Beginning work on the film with Layne in 2012, his individual journey in its production has stretched beyond mere technical specialties, and branched into a discovery of the self, of ancestry, and of commonality in all humanity through the workings of the orixás. Although now alone in the editing room, he works closely with the spirit realm in his decision-making and filmic intuition.

Associate Producers Gerianna Celi, Amy Oak, Paige Smith, Lillian Sober Ain, and John Buchanan have contributed greatly to the vision of the film becoming a reality.

The Music

The original soundtrack for the film is based on traditional candomblé compositions, arranged and performed by some of the most respected musicians in northeast Brazil. Each of the arrangements calls to a different orixá, inviting its energy to emerge though specific rhythms and lyrics in the language of ancient Yoruba. In rituals dating back thousands of years, the unison of these musical properties accompanied by carefully chosen dance movements grants the presence of the orixá energy within the human form. Today, these rituals continue, and each musician on the recording belongs to a candomblé house and participates regularly in the ceremonial rituals. This is a living and at the same time highly professional presentation of the sacred rhythms and chants of candomblé. All of the music was recorded by Tadeu Mascarenhas in Casa Das Maquinas Studio in Salvador, Brazil. Produced by Layne Redmond, Rosangela Silvestre and Tadeu Mascarenhas.

The Musicians

One of Bahia’s most powerful and mesmerizing young performers, Mariella Santiago, sang lead vocals and arranged the beautiful layers of vocals on five of the eight songs to the Orixás. Steeped in the traditional music of Bahia, she has created her own modern sound – a remarkable fusion of American jazz, soul, bossa nova and traditional Afro-Brazilian music making a name for herself singing backup for Gilberto Gil and Carlinhos Brown. We were graced with four young master drummers who have grown up both in the candomblé tradition and the professional training program of Balé Folclórico: Alcides Morais, Andre Souza, Joel Souza and Fabio Santos. Vocalists Dora Santana and Miralva Couto are also the lead singers of Balé Folclórico, the internationally known folkloric dance group. Gilmar Sampaio, a beloved pae do santo (priest of candomblé) and a master dancer, added his powerful voice for the chants and for the ritual invocations on the recording.

The Dance

“Dance translates what I cannot say with words. Dance connects me with the Universe. Dance connects me with you.” Rosangela Silvestre

Rosangela Silvestre is the associate director and guest choreographer of Viver Brasil Dance Company and is internationally renowned for her demanding dance training, the “Silvestre Technique.” She has rigorously researched dance and music in India, Egypt and Cuba as part of her ever-evolving and eclectic movement palette. In the 1990s, Silvestre toured extensively with jazz musician Steve Coleman and his group the Five Elements. She has created choreography for Brazil’s lauded company, Balé Folclórico da Bahia as well as Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Company, Ballet Hispanico Repertory Company, American Academy of Ballet, Roots of Brazil, DanceBrazil, Viver Brasil, Muntu Dance Theater and the Kendra Kimbrough Dance Ensemble.

Rosangela Silvestre, along with being one of the initial producers for Axé Orixá, dances within the dreams of Iemanja, Oxun, Iansan and Omolu.

She also co-directed Alberto Carlvalho and Formigão in Xangô and Alberto in Omolu. Additionally, priest Gilmar Sampaio dances Oxalá. Mariella Santiago portrays the female version of Oxumare and the priest, Guto, dances the male version. The priestess, Maria de Lourdes Silvestre Dos Santos, dances Oxun.

Bahia, the oldest colonial region in Brazil, has for centuries been the holder and preserver of the traditions of candomblé which is rooted in ancient African Yoruban religions. These traditions came to Brazil with the Africans forced into slavery and brought to work the vast sugarcane fields of Bahia. By identifying African deities (the Orixás) with Catholic saints these traditions were hidden within the Catholic religion the Africans were forced to embrace. The earliest sacred houses (terreiros), the ritual ceremonial places of worship for Candomblé, were built in Bahia and have continued to survive even during periods of extreme harassment by government and religious institutions.

The rhythms and dances of Candomblé are specific to each of the orixás. Three sizes of atabaque drums, the Brazilian version of the conga, are used in the rituals. The smallest and highest pitched is the Le; the largest and deepest sounding solo drum is the Rum; and the Rumpi is the medium sized and pitched drum. The rich traditions of candomblé are certainly a deep source feeding the new music, dance and art flowing out of Salvador da Bahia.

The orixás are elemental and sacred forces of divinity expressed through music and dance. The traditional dances demonstrate the characteristics of the ancestral customs that originated in Africa. The human body absorbs the cosmic power in connection with the traditions or lineage of the ancestors and the divine connection to the elemental energies. These traditional forms of dances and rhythms were created by human beings trying to express information coming from the universal energies. These energies are speaking to us all the time, and if the mind can fall silent and hear, one can become a channel or a conduit for these energies.

Candomblé views the universe as a manifestation of the spiritual and creative force called Axé, the Yoruban word for divine power or life force. I perceive axé as similar to the concept of prana in the yogic tradition or the concept of qi in Asia, or pneuma for the ancient Greeks. It is the infinite and all-pervading creative energy of the universe that supports consciousness and animates the mind and body. It links the physical, mental and spiritual dimensions of our consciousness. The Orixás are perceived as fundamental manifestations and transmitters of axé. They are thought to move in the human realm as living, vibrating Truth and to represent the forces of nature that are called during the process of the chants and dances invoking them. The Orixás can be experienced and comprehended through spiritual awakening.

It is taught that each person has a dominant Orixá and influential secondary Orixás. These powers predetermine how the personality and life path will unfold. As the Orixá is a manifestation of specific forces of nature, coming to understand the power of one’s Orixás enables one to unfold his or her life more efficiently and powerfully.

Chants and rhythms call to the Orixás to come to the celebration being given to honor them. At the opening of each chant Gilmar sings the traditional invocation. The songs have the power to bring the initiate in line with the energy of the Orixá and in an ultimate sense they function as mantras or sacred chants do in the yogic system. In Hinduism the mantra of a specific deity also brings the practitioner into alignment with the presence and energy of the deity. Among the most ancient principles of spiritual practice is ritualized, rhythmic speech. Through the repetition of certain sounds, the practitioner creates vibratory rhythms within the body that energize the brain and the nervous system. The chant of a specific goddess or god is equivalent to the energy of the deity itself. To dance and sing the chant ritually is to invoke and enter into the consciousness of the goddess or god. Rosangela teaches that the rhythms, chants and dance movements of candomblé function as such. You cannot put your mind completely on this music without being transformed – the matrix of your consciousness will be restructured and re-integrated in a new and powerful way.

A huge thank you to all of the Kickstarter backers who helped make this film possible, both for their initial contributions and with their ongoing enthusiasm and blessings.

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