In the 1950s, the Babaloo Drum found its most famous messenger: . Playing the character Ricky Ricardo on the iconic sitcom I Love Lucy , Arnaz would regularly strap on a large drum and launch into a high-energy performance of "Babalú".
The drums never stopped beating. In the mountain towns and city streets of Cuba, the Bàtá and the carried the secret messages of the Orishas. By the 1940s, the religious invocation of Babalú-Ayé had leaked into the secular world. Cuban composer Margarita Lecuona wrote the song "Babalú," an operatic, percussive prayer that asked the deity for help. It was first popularized by Miguelito Valdés, known as "Mr. Babalú," but it was waiting for a global stage. The TV King: Desi Arnaz Babaloo Drum
In the ancient stories, Babalú-Ayé was often depicted as a humble, limping old man, his skin scarred by smallpox and his body wrapped in (palm leaf) curtains to hide his wounds. He wandered the dusty roads accompanied by two faithful dogs, his only companions when others shunned him for his illness. In the 1950s, the Babaloo Drum found its
To the average American viewer at the time, it was a catchy, exotic nightclub act. They saw a handsome man in a tuxedo shouting a primitive-sounding cry. But for Arnaz, a Cuban exile who had left his home following a revolution, the drum was a way to reclaim his identity. When he beat the drum and chanted the name of the Orisha on national television, he was performing a ritual of healing and memory, connecting his new life in Hollywood back to the sacred groves of his ancestors. The Legacy In the mountain towns and city streets of