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The god of thunder and the ancestor of the Yoruba people of Nigeria. He is the son of Yemaja the mother goddess and protector of birth. Shango (Xango) has three wives: Oya, who stole Shango's secrets of magic; Oschun, the river goddess who is Shango's favorite because of her culinary abilities; and Oba, who tried to win his love by offering her ear for him to eat. He sent her away in anger and she became the river Oba, which is very turbulent where it meets the river Oschun.

Shango is portrayed with a double axe on his head (the symbol of thunder), with six eyes and sometimes with three heads. His symbolic animal is the ram, and his favorite colors are red and white, which are regarded as being holy. In Brazil, Shango is worshipped as a thunder and weather god by the Umbandists. In Santeria, Shango (Chango) is the equivalent of the Catholic saint St. Barbara.

Bata drums are sacred to Shango.  They are his instrument, they are too an Orisha. Orishas are the deities of the Lukumi/Candomble and Traditional Yoruba religions.

Afrika Bambaataa release _Shango Funk Theology_ on Axiom 1984, recorded as Shango with Material personnel Bill Laswell and Michael Beinhorn.

• 604 release _Shango_ by Juno Reactor
• female vocals by Taz Alexander

• _Pistolero_ MP3
• guitars by Steve Stevens of _Rebel Yell_ era Billy Idol
• _Hule Lam_ MP3
• _Insects_ MP3
• _Aroimo_ (Aadime) MP3
• _Masters Of The Universe_ MP3
• _Nitrogen Part 1_ MP3
• _Nitrogen Part 2_ MP3
• _Solaris_ MP3
• _Song For Ancestors_ MP3

• track _Tunnel Vision_ MP3 by Shango
• jazz rock release _Ready...Set...Shango!_ by Charlie Hunter Quartet on Blue Note (1996)
• 2. _Teabaggin'_ MP3 (192k)
• electro disco funk track _Shango Message_ MP3 by Shango off of _Shango Funk Theology_ 12" on Celluloid (1984)
• Afrika Bambaataa, produced by Bill Laswell
• industrial noise track _Shango & Come Back! (live)_ MP3 (192k) by Psychic TV off of _Were You Ever Bullied At School...Do You Want Revenge?_ CDx2 on Cold Spring (2000)
• 604 track _Shango_ MP3 (192k) by Snake Thing off of _The Wizardry Of Oz_ compilation 12"x2 on Transient (1997)

first mention of Shango in Usenet:

From: Richard A. Lethin (lethin@yale.ARPA)
Subject: Re: Yoruba culture - Book by Robert Thompson
Newsgroups: net.nlang.africa
Date: 1985-05-13 19:31:53 PST
 

In article <145@nvuxb.UUCP> javier@nvuxb.UUCP (J. Lujan) writes:

>       Does anyone  know  about  the  "Yoruba   people"?       I'm
>       interested  in  knowing more about their        culture since their
>       religion         is  very  much  alive  in  some   spanish-speaking
>       countries  (mostly  in  central america)  and  also spanish
>       quarters        of our american cities.
>

I recently (this past semester) took a course entiled "The Black Atlantic Visual Tradition," taught by Professor Robert Thompson, or "Master 'T'" as he is better known here.

The course concerned itself with the transportation of several major African cultures (including the Yoruba) to the Western Hemisphere.  The Yoruba religion, with such gods as Ogun (god of iron), Shango (The Thunder God), and Eshu-Elegba (The Trickster),  was creolized in the new world - it mixed with other African Religions and the christian religion of the missionaries to form new very rich religions.  In particular, these hybrid faiths can be found in Brazil (Rio), Cuba, and Haiti.  These religions are still practiced today; in fact, with the immigration of Cubans to the United States, the religions are very much alive here.   Perhaps one of the most visible signs of this around today are Botanicas, shops which sell the special items, herbs, etc., needed for the faith.  I am told that these shops can be found throughout Miami, along Riverside Drive in NYC, and that there is even one located here in good old New Haven!

Thompson has written an excellent book describing this process; it also covers quite a bit about Kongo and Haitian culture.  The Book is called "Flash of the Spirit," by Robert Farris Thompson (Vintage Books: 1983).  I'll quote from the introduction:

                     Since the Atlantic slave trade, ancient African
                organizing principles of song and dance have crossed
                the seas from the Old World to the New.  There they
                took on new momentum, intermingling with each other
                and with New World or European styles of singing and
                dance...
                  ...Flash of the Spirit is about visual and philosophic
                streams of creativity and imagination, running parallel
                to the massive musical and choreographic modalities
                that connect black persons of the western hemisphere,
                as well as the millions of European and Asian people
                attracted to and performing their styles, to  Mother
                Africa.  Aspects of the art and philosophy of the
                Yoruba of Nigeria and the Republic of Benin; the Bakongo
                of Bas-Zaire and neighboring Cabinda, Congo-Brazzaville,
                and Angola; the Fon and Ewe of the Republic of Benin
                and Togo; the Mande of Mali and neighboring territory;
                and the Ejagham of the Cross River in southeastern
                Nigeria and Southeastern Cameroon, have come from
                sub-Saharan Africa to the western hemisphere...
                                     -- FOTS, by RF Thompson, Introduction

This is a great book, which I highly recommend to you.  It's been published in paperback, and costs ~$10.  The NY Times Book Review loved it.

        Ashe,
        Rich Lethin
        Yale, TD'85    ...decvax!yale!lethin