Editors Pick on Descarga.com

EEcobio Enyenison
CD (Habana|Harlem 205976), Released 2009;
Editor's Pick:
Very Highly Recommended folkloric Abakuá release featuring Roman Diaz, Pedro Martinez, Angel Guerrero and guests. A rare album of its type, and continues where Cuba's Grupo Andabo's 1997 Enyenison Enkama 2 left off. Recorded in very high quality at the home of Roman Diaz and Pedro Martinez, NY, 2009. Those who are familiar with Ékpè and Abakuá hold this session in very high regard. The real deal. With Onel Mulet, Oriente Lopez, Ruben Rodriguez and many other noted musicians. Guests Steve Turre and Paquito D'Rivera. - BP

"...This recording by Proyecto Enyenisón Enkama is a brilliant effort to continue that conversation, using the same form in which both Ékpè and Abakuá have recorded their own histories: ritual phrases with symbolic rhythms. Members of Proyecto Enyenison Enkama have been leaders in the conversation with their African counterparts at each stage in the process, which certainly began before the first encounter in 2001. In 1997, the Havana rumba group Yoruba Andabo’s recording of ‘Enyenison Enkama 2’ (arranged and chanted by ‘Roman’ Díaz’) became the basis for the Brooklyn encounter; it included an historic chant evoking Efí Ebutón, the first Cuban lodge, that Nigerians interpreted as identifying ‘Obutong’, an important Calabar community. In 2000, Angel Guerrero led the creation of ‘Ibiono’ in Havana, the first full length CD devoted entirely to Abakuá ritual chanting that evoked historic lineages in Cuba and the foundation of Ékpè in Africa. Following this trajectory, in ‘Ecobio Enyenison’, Cuban Abakuá chant their history and proclaim their faith in their inherited traditions.

The phrases of each composition describe sacred geographies (maps) of West African source communities, as well as histories (epic deeds) of the African founders. By evoking these inherited chants, members of ‘Proyecto Enyenison Ekama’ praise their teachers, as well as all those Abakuá leaders of the past who maintained their faith in the teachings of those Carabalí migrants who established Abakuá. By chanting within the context of contemporary arrangements played by vanguard jazz musicians, they celebrate a cultural victory of continuity and evolution across time and space, as well as offer a vision of the expansion of their traditions into the future."

Dr. Ivor Miller
African Studies Center
Boston University
(DR, 2010-11-02)
Song titles include:
Eribo Eriboñe
Neri
Itia Fondova
Tumba Efo
Danza Ñañiga
Ekon Erima
Mariba Konkai
Beromo Ñampe
Isunekue
Iro Gañu
Musicians include:
Ramon Diaz Percussion
Pedro Martinez Percussion
Angel Guerrero Percussion
Onel Mulet Flauta, sax
Oriente Lopez Piano
Ariacne Trujillo Piano
Philbert Armenteros Lead vocal
Ruben Rodriguez Bass
Panagiotis Andreou Bass
Dennis Hernandez Trumpet
Eddie Venegas Violin, trombone
Willie Alvarez Trombone
Edmar Castañeda Harp
Alvaro Benavides Bass
Axel Tosca Piano
Category: Folkloric => Rumba And/Or Santeria/Lucumi
Shipping Value: 1
ORDER TL-24115.10 CD $16.98