Martin Cohen and Jesus Perez "Oba Ilu", Havana.
In the course of research on the history of the Lukumi bata drum ensemble in Cuba, specifically the legacy of one of its masters, Jesus Perez, Miller assembled a visual archive from the private collections of Perez's extended community. This one depicts Perez's happy encounter with Latin Percussion founder and photographer Martin Cohen of New Jersey.
Margarita Ugarte, founding member of the Conjunto Folklorico Nacional de Cuba, dances for Yemaya in Mexico. Margarita, a colleague of Jesus Perez, met Miller through Dr. Rogelio Martinez-Fure, Cuba's leading Africanist. Margarita was raised in an family that practiced Ocha and Abakuá in Regla, the town where Abakua was founded in the 1830s.
Pictured are Lázaro Ros, Juan Cisneros, Orestes Berrios, Lázaro Cárdenas, Margarita Ugarte, Regino Jiménez. Mario Jáuregui is playing the Iyá, but is seated behind Margarita and is not visible. This photo was taken in Tijuana in 1989.
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