aguanile
Aguanile (literally nile water, i.e. "water from the Nile", "holy water") is used in Santeria rituals. Santeria is derived from religious practices of African slaves in the Caribbean.
Willy Colon's arrangement of the song begins with African animal and human sounds - recalling the African origins and traditions prevalent in Latin America.
my favorite part of the song is near the beginning when the singer namechecks the Catholic latin mass by calling Kyrie eleison, Christus eleison.
in the movie El Cantante (2007), Marc Anthony plays the title character, the late Hector Lavoe. in the clip below he sings Aguanile.
Comments
Thanks for re-posting! This inspires me to play more Cuban music in an attempt to make Sunday cleaning more fun
They make me homesick for Panama and all things latino.