Maria Sabína*, R. G. Wasson*, V. P. Wasson* – Mushroom Ceremony Of The Mazatec Indians Of Mexico

Label: Folkways Records – FR 8975
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Blue Cover
Country: US
Released: 1966
Genre: Folk, World, & Country
Style: Field Recording, Religious

Prized high-esoterica published by Smithsonian Folkways in 1966 capturing the first (known) recordings of a Mazatec Mushroom ceremony held by the late shaman and poet Maria Sabina.

The story goes in 1955 American author and ethnomycologist R. Gordon Wasson and wife Valentina travelled to a town in the Sierra Mazateca area tucked away in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca and became the first westerners to participate in a sacred psilocybin mushroom ceremony, called veladas, led by Sabina.  Controversially and despite assurances to Sabina that her location and identity remain a secret, the duo published their account in a Life magazine article, prompting numerous early hippies, scientists and other young people to travel to Mexico seeking the hallucinatory experience.  The psychedelic generation was born and the rest is history.  Sadly Sabina was ostracised from her community, attracted endless attention with the police, had her house burned down and family members murdered as a result of the unwanted exposure to western attention. 

The raw field recordings capture Sabina in a trance-like state ingesting psilocybin mushrooms (Maria's holy children) and leading a healing Virgil in the ancient indigenous Mazatec language.  It’s an undiluted account of this historically important and contentious event that laid the foundation for a network of subcultures to flourish.  Rare original and near-perfect copy with liner notes (NM/NM)

Tracklist
A1 Chjon Nka
A2 Chjon Nca Catain
A3 Santo
A4 Papa Papai
A5 Na? Ai-Ni Tso
A6 Ji Ñai Na
A7 Jan Jesu Cri
A8 Ji Ñai
B1 San Pedro
B2 Soso Soso
B3 Name Of Plants
B4 Pedro Martinez
B5 Don't Be Concerned, Old One
B6 Birds
B7 Humming, Etc
B7 Soft Singing
B8 Finale