Robert Palmer, contributing editor to Rolling Stone... advocate and lover of rock music, writes, in Rock & Roll An Unruly History: "Bata drums [drums used in voodoo], sacred to the Yoruba people of Nigeria and Cuba... provided a template for the inner rhythms of rock and roll... serve as conduits for spiritual energies, linking individual human consciousness with the gods... the drum rhythms that make rock and roll can ultimately be traced back to African music of a primarily spiritual or ritual nature. In a sense, rock and roll is a kind of 'voodoo'... Drums are used in "voodoo" possession... drummers tap out their rhythm patterns like signals to the realm of the gods, inviting and enticing them to come and POSSESS their devotees."