THE VOICE OF THE LEOPARD

Dr. Ivor Miller On Greenpeace Radio Oct.3rd 2011

2011-10-19T13:53:00.000-07:00

Dr. Ivor Miller On Greenpeace Radio Oct.3rd 2011

Kert Davies interviews Dr. Ivor Miller for Greenpeace Radio. He speaks about Afro Cuban culture and the environmental impact of a modern world on the forests of ancestral Èkpé lands in Nigeria and Cameroon. This is an uninterrupted version of the riginal Greenpeace radio podcast featuring the music of Arsenio Rodriguez, Celia Cruz, Enyenison Enkama and Victor Herrera. You will also hear a rare recording from Lydia Cabrera's archives later released on Smithsonian Folkways. Please enjoy.

Abasi Menguame,

Onel Mulet

for Ndibo Yevengo.

Nunkue Ayaya!! An Homage to the Morua!!!

2011-08-23T16:04:00.000-07:00

In the deep heritage of Ekpé legend exists a perfectly balanced ritual lineage that preserves the richness of the Qua, Efik, Efut, and Ejagham. Wrapped in this womb are the traditions of the Ekpé societies and their sister Ndem societies. Careful stewards of both sides of the Kalunga line they are ensuring the survival of this profoundly rich cultural treasure trove for generations to come.

Last week thanks in great part to the generous help of Martin, Vivian, and Matt Cohen with the help of Javier Raez and Ben Baurer we were able to explore these very spiritual connections and pay homage to the Morua by joining the enormous talents and profound knowledge of both Maobong Oku and Roman Diaz in this piece so eloquently presented by Dr. Ivor Miller. Enjoy and thanks to all who have tuned in to Ene Ita's radio broadcasts with Dr. Miller and the re-broadcasts on Cuba Calabar Radio. More to come.

Abasi Menguame,

Onel Mulet

Sese Mariba Kondo:"The Voice That Comes From The Sea"

2011-08-05T07:43:00.000-07:00

In April Enyenison Enkama performed a spectacular set at the Schomburg Center for Research and Black Culture. The enthusiastic crowd received the group with love and admiration as it revealed the traditional Abakuá masquerade and sang songs of praise for their comrades, the ancestors and the traditions that were brought from Ekpé lands in southeast, Nigeria and southwest Cameroon. Our dear friend inventor, entrepreneur and professional photographer Martin Cohen captured these images posted on his congahead.com blog. Cuban photographer Juan Caballero was there and captured these brilliant images. Cuban filmmaker and author Aristides Falcon also documented the event and video footage of the concert will be posted very soon. Download Ecobio Enyenison, the latest release by Enyenison Enkama(Roman Diaz, Angel Guerrero, Pedro Martinez) at the iTunes store.

Ekpe Masquerade

2011-02-27T12:21:00.000-08:00

I missed carnaval in Calabar this year, and this video reminds me of the stark majesty and power of Ekpe masquerades. The different Ekpe masquerades bring together the communities of the Cross river and it's diaspora year after year in honor of their common ancestors and Ekpe culture at large; transcending distance and time in the retelling of the founding traditions of Ekpe resonating with the voice.

Three Kings Day: Abakuá day in Cuba

2011-01-06T11:03:00.000-08:00

Three Kings Day circa 1850 painted by the french painter Frederic Mialhe.

Happy New Year!!! January 6th is Abakuá day in Cuba. On this day all the different cabildos and Abakuá lodges celebrate their different traditions, dances and masquerades during colonial times. It symbolized a subtle demonstration of power and numbers where the colonial governor would give the aguinaldo or the offering of gold pieces to each of the cabildos and lodges. They used their earnings to buy the freedom of captive brothers and sisters in bondage. For the Abakuá it is also one of the best examples of synthesis that laid the groundwork for a very sophisticated culture of resistance and adaptation.

“Presence and significance of Èkpé and Abakuá societies in Cuba and America”

2010-11-11T22:27:00.000-08:00

Below is a description, both in english and spanish, of the Colloquium, it's purpose, and the topics that will be addressed.

The organizing committee of the IV International Colloquium about Research in Afro-American Religions, through this circular invites all anthropologists, specialists, related researchers, scholars and religious persons, to participate in this event to be held in Havana, in the headquarters of the Cuban Institute of Anthropology, from May 25th to 28th next year.

Once again, it seeks to consolidate a space for exchanging knowledge and experiences on research and studies that have as its focus the diversity of religious forms, religions and cultural modes of recorded African history in America as a result of the colonial process. This time it will focus the discussion to the presence and meanings of traditional religious societies of southern Nigeria, Calabar region, that evolved in the semi-secret and religious groups called Abakuá in Cuba. The cultural influence of these societies in the American context as a result of successive migrations to different latitudes, will receive attention in the event as a way to establish the concepts that allow from these "societies" the development of human being-nature biopsychosocial equilibrium.

It is an opportunity to constitute several spaces for reflection and debate among scholars and researchers of the intangible and material cultural heritage contained in religions and in the cultural practice of the religious person with these beliefs.

It will also allow to initiate dialogical approaches on the religious cultural practice that it’s developing today in different latitudes under the Caribbean and Latin American influence, to encourage integration frameworks at the level of the regional area we live in, convinced that the development of cognitive abilities in this area may become a strategic point for the delineation of an integrating policy and of own nature from the Latin American cultural geography. That also is the reason why in the IV Symposium will be formed the Regional Group of Afro-American Religious Studies (GRERA) attached to the Cuban Institute of Anthropology

Thematic Categories:

1. Notions of the religious societies Egbe of Calabar and Abakuá in Cuba. Their ties with other Afro-American Religions. Major trends and approaches.
2. Experiences in the recognition of Afro-American cultural practices. Major problems and trends in the vision of Africa.
3. Scientific research applied to the study of African-American immaterial and tangible cultural heritage. The Afro-American culture and its reflection on the praxis of Science and Culture.
4. Education and training for the preservation and rescue of the Afro-American Cultural Heritage.
5. Environment in the Afro-American cultural practice. Practical problems. Education for cultural praxis.
6. Afro-American Cultural History. Main research topics. Image of the African descent and social problems that it entails.
7. African-American culture and sociocultural resistance. Contemporary ethnographic studies.
8. The African Diaspora in Latin America and the Caribbean.
9. Transnationalization and dissemination of Afro-American religions. Study cases in situational anthropology.

As part of the activities scheduled for the IV International Colloquium on Afro-American Religions Research there will be held:

1. Constituent meeting of the Regional Group of Afro-American Religious Studies (GRERA) attached to the Cuban Institute of Anthropology
2. Ethnographic audiovisual presentation on secret Abakuá societies in Cuba made by the Group of Afro-American Religions of the Cuban Institute of Anthropology.
3. Presentation of the photographic exhibition "Images of Abakuá" by Dr. Miguel Ángel García Velazco.

Sponsors:
- Cuban Institute of Anthropology.
- Social Science Council; Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment
- Spanish Agency for International Cooperation for Development.

Co-sponsors:
- Office of the Historian of Havana.
- UNESCO Regional Office for Culture in Latin America.
- Regional network of institutions and researchers of Afro-American religions.
- “Fernando Ortiz” Foundation.
- Africa House of the Office of the Historian of Havana.
- UNESCO Cuban National Commission.
- Yoruba Cultural Association of Cuba.
- Swiss Cooperation for Development (COSUDE).
- Higher Studies School of Hotel Trade and Tourism.
- Embassy of the Republic of Nigeria.

El comité organizador del IV Coloquio Internacional sobre Investigaciones de las Religiones Afroamericanas, a través de esta circular invita a todos los antropólogos, especialistas, investigadores afines, estudiosos y religiosos, a participar en este evento que se realizará en La Ciudad de la Habana, en la sede del Instituto Cubano de Antropología, del 25 al 28 de mayo del próximo año.

Una vez más, se persigue consolidar un espacio para el intercambio de conocimientos y experiencias acerca de investigaciones y estudios que tienen como foco la diversidad de formas religiosas, religiones y modos culturales de antecedentes africanos registrados en América como consecuencia del proceso colonial. En esta oportunidad enfocaremos el debate hacia la presencia y significados de las sociedades tradicionales religiosas del sur de Nigeria, región del Calabar, que devinieron en las agrupaciones semisecretas y también religiosas denominadas Abakuá en Cuba. La influencia cultural de estas sociedades en el contexto americano como consecuencia de las sucesivas migraciones hacia diferentes latitudes, será objeto de atención en el evento a manera de establecer las nociones que permiten desde estas “sociedades” el desarrollo de un equilibrio biosicosocial ser humano-naturaleza.

Es una oportunidad para constituir diversos espacios para la reflexión y el debate entre estudiosos e investigadores del patrimonio cultural intangible y material contenido en las religiones y la praxis cultural del religioso de estas creencias.

Asimismo permitirá iniciar acercamientos dialógicos sobre la praxis cultural religiosa que se desarrolla actualmente en diferentes latitudes bajo el influjo caribeño y latinoamericano; propiciar marcos de integración a nivel del área regional en que vivimos, convencidos de que el desarrollo de capacidades cognoscitivas en esta área podrá constituirse en un punto estratégico para el trazado de una política integradora y de naturaleza propia desde la geografía cultural Latinoamericana. Esa además, es la razón por la cual en el marco del IV Coloquio se constituirá el Grupo Regional de Estudios sobre Religiones Afroamericanas (GRERA) adscrito al Instituto Cubano de Antropología

Contenidos Temáticos:

1. Nociones de las Sociedades religiosas Egbe del Calabar y Abakuá en Cuba. Sus vínculos con otras Religiones Afroamericanas. Principales tendencias y enfoques.
2. Experiencias en el reconocimiento de prácticas culturales afroamericanas. Principales problemas y tendencias en la visión sobre África.
3. La investigación científica aplicada al estudio del patrimonio cultural inmaterial y tangible afroamericano. La cultura afroamericana y su reflejo en la praxis de la Ciencia y la Cultura.
4. Educación y capacitación para la preservación y rescate del Patrimonio Cultural Afroamericano.
5. Medio Ambiente en la praxis cultural afroamericana. Problemas prácticos. Educación para la praxis cultural.
6. Historia de la Cultura Afroamericana. Principales temas de investigación. Imagen del afrodescendiente y problemas sociales que encierra.
7. La cultura afroamericana como resistencia sociocultural. Los estudios etnográficos contemporáneos.
8. La diáspora africana en América Latina y el Caribe.
9. Transnacionalización y difusión de las religiones afroamericanas. Casos de estudio en la antropología situacional.

Como parte de las actividades programadas en el IV Coloquio Internacional sobre Investigaciones de las Religiones Afroamericanas se realizarán:

1. Reunión de constitución del Grupo Regional de Estudios sobre Religiones Afroamericanas. (GRERA) adscrito al Instituto Cubano de Antropología.
2. Presentación de audiovisuales etnográficos sobre las sociedades secretas Abakuá en Cuba realizados por el Grupo de Religiones Afroamericanas del Instituto Cubano de Antropología.
3. Presentación de la muestra fotográfica “Imágenes del Abakuá” a cargo del Dr. Miguel Ángel García Velazco.
Auspician:
- Instituto Cubano de Antropología.
- Consejo de Ciencias Sociales del Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología y Medioambiente
- Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo.

Coauspician:
- Oficina del Historiador de la Ciudad de la Habana.
- Oficina Regional de Cultura para América Latina de la UNESCO.
- Red Regional de Instituciones e investigadores de las religiones afroamericanas.
- Fundación “Fernando Ortiz”.
- Casa de África de la Oficina del Historiador de la Ciudad de La Habana.
- Comisión Nacional Cubana de la UNESCO.
- Asociación Cultural Yoruba de Cuba.
- Cooperación Suiza para el Desarrollo (COSUDE).
- Escuela de Altos Estudios de Hotelería y Turismo.
- Embajada de la República de Nigeria.

Editors Pick on Descarga.com

2010-11-05T00:47:00.000-07:00

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

Calabar Radio Broadcast W/Ene Ita and Dr. (Chief) Ivor Miller #2

2010-09-23T23:05:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all those folks who have been tuning in to the blog and our podcasts. I am now compiling transcripts of these transmissions; for those who are interested please email me at ndiboyevengo@gmail.com. In this weeks' podcast Ene Ita and Dr. (Chief) Ivor Miller talk about the shared traditions of Cuba and Calabar through Ékpè and Abakuá culture. Cuba's Abakuá music is maintained in epic poetic form, a tradition that has enabled Cuban Abakuá to maintain the memory of their ancestors. They also used it to survive the repression of a colonial government looking to strip them of their cultural identity, recording their own history in the hearts and minds of Abakuá members for generations to come and for our enjoyment in the 21st century nearly 200 years since the first consecration took place in Regla;Havana, Cuba.

Please click on the logo below to hear the podcast.

Images from Abijang, Etung S.E. Nigeria

2010-09-21T19:01:00.001-07:00

A view of the Cross River from the town of Abijang, in southern Etung Local Government Area, between Ikom urban and the Cameroun border. Photo by Ivor Miller, 2010

Inside the Mgbe hall of Abijang, a copy of Voice of the Leopard is proudly displayed. The Mgbe members of Abijang supported Miller's research by performing rare funerary rites, and a photograph of the hall and their sacred Ukara cloth is published in Miller's book. Photo by Ivor Miller, 2010

Images from Dr. (Chief) Ivor Miller's Archives

2010-09-15T06:19:00.000-07:00

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.

African Symbolism in Kanye West's Power Video

2010-08-20T20:16:00.000-07:00

Kanye West's interest in the Illuminati and it's symbolism is no big mystery, at least not anymore. His latest video, Power, is his personal take on the abuse of Power and how those who have it keep the secrets very closely guarded. Since Medieval times historians have revealed many instances of secret societies. Most famous of all are the Illuminati, the Knights Templar and the Freemasons. The roots of Freemasonry can be traced as far back as ancient Egypt. Even with all his references to Masonic symbolism and images of beautiful half naked seductive women in this video, it's the presence of particular African symbols that stand out the most for me when I look at Kanye's 21st century Bacchanal.

West treats us to depictions of ancient Egyptian deities like Horus, god of the sky and Hathor the cow horned love goddess. Even more interesting is what Hathor does with the staff. This particular staff is very similar to those used in Bantu or Ki-Kongo traditions, also similar to the iton, (Ékpé staff) used by Ékpé title holders. B.E. Bassey (2001:19-28) mentions a correlation between the Nile river valley and the semi-Bantu Ekoi (Ejagham) one the many inhabitants of southwestern Cameroon and southeast Nigeria who practice Ékpé, their own secret society, known as the Leopard Society .Ékpé societies are the forebears of the Cuban secret society known as Abakuá.

The action of pounding the staff against the earth symbolizes communication with the spirits or ancestors. This form of communication is practiced throughout the African diaspora. Examples include but are not limited to; Umbanda traditions in Brazil, Vodou in Haiti, New Orleans and the Mayomberos of Palo traditions in Cuba, and the U.S.. A steady beat accompanies the mambo, a prayer or incantation used to communicate with N'fumbe(spirits) or summon the N'kisi(spirit or deity of the paleros charm or pot). The combination of the rythmic pulse of the sorcerers staff and the chanting of the mambo gets the message where it needs to go.

For more information about Ékpé and Abakuá check out these two books.

Ékpé Efik: A Theosophical Perspective.By B.E. Bassey Victoria. B.C.: Trafford Publishing 2001

Voice of the Leopard: African Secret Societies and Cuba (Carribean Studies) by Ivor Miller (Hardcover - Jan 16, 2009)

For information on Africa in the diaspora see Pierre Fatumbi Verger

For more information about freemasonry, the Illuminati and its symbols see United Symbols of America Robert R. Hieronimous Ph.D.

Onel Mulet for N'dibo Yeve N'go

Blow Ékpè: Conjuring the voice of the leopard.

2010-08-05T13:44:00.000-07:00

"In Calabar history, Ékpè say they 'blow Ékpé' (as translated from Efik). In his
book Efik Ékpè, Eng (Chief) Bassey equates the Voice sound with a trumpet,
metaphorically." Dr. (Chief) Ivor Miller

Click Here for M.H. Masts 1989 article on The larynx of roaring and non-roaring cats.

The larynges of the four 'roaring' cats, the lion, tiger, leopard, and jaguar,
can be distinguished from larynges of 'non-roaring' cats by a large pad of
fibro-elastic tissue which constitutes the rostral portion
of the proportionately very large vocal fold.

This paper presents a more detailed anatomical study of the larynx of all
species of the big cats and a representative number of small cats. The
structure of the vocal folds of the family Felidae are discussed in terms of
functional morphology, with 'roaring' versus 'non-roaring' vocalisation
described in principles of musical acoustics.

It was found that all species of genus Panthera ('roaring cats'), with the
exception of P. uncia, can be distinguished from 'non-roaring' cats by a large
pad of fibro-elastic tissue which constitutes the rostal portion of each of the
proportionately very large undivided vocal folds (Fig. 1 a). p. 118

Because of their large mass, the Panthera vocal folds - the sound generating
element - have a low natural frequency and, when vibrating, will produce a high
acoustical energy. p. 119

As in other species of the cat family, sexual differences are quantitative, with
the male larynx, on the average, larger than the female. P. 119

The entire vocal mechanism of the roaring Panthera, i.e. subglottic larynx,
vocal folds, supraglottic larynx, pharynx and open mouth, is analogous to the
brass trumpet. The Panthera vocal folds simulate the form of a trumpet
mouthpiece. The mouthpiece, when added to one end of the tube (supraglottic
larynx and pharynx), adjusts frequencies of the harmonics. The result is to
increase slightly the effective length of the tube and to cause the instrument
to behave acoustically like an open tube with a new length; the instrument
(vocal mechanism) will then produce a set of resonances which includes all the
notes of the overtone series (Berg & Stork, 1982).

The wide open mouth of the cat is analogous to the bell of the trumpet. Adding a
bell or wide open mouth to the cat's trumpet-like vocal apparatus provides the
correct match between instrument and outside air to transfer the sound most
efficiently; a bell also modifies the frequency and stability of the harmonics,
increasing their production and radiation (Bachus, 1977; Berg & Stork, 1982).

The configuration of an instrument employing a mouthpiece at one end of a
straight tube and a bell at the other end will produce a sound that is louder,
and a tone that is brighter and more 'trumpet-like' than any instrument that
lacks either a mouthpiece or a bell (Holmes, 1985). Finally, the replacement of
the epihyal by an elastic ligament in genus Panthera allows the larynx to be moved a greater distance from the tympanic bulla and is analogous to the modem valve brass trumpet or slide trombone, where every lengthening of the instrument by 6% will result in a decrease in pitch of one semitone i.e. about 6% in frequency (Bachus, 1977).P.120

Visit Dr. (Chief) Ivor Miller on Facebook and view his photographs of Calabar, its people, and surrounding areas of Cross River State. Dr. (Chief) Ivor Miller is a visiting Fulbright scholar from the African Studies center Boston University, conducting research in Cross River state, southeast Nigeria and many of the surrounding regions.

CRBC Radio Calabar Radio Programs with Ene Ita and Dr. (Chief) Ivor Miller

2010-08-05T00:31:00.000-07:00

This weeks blog features one of many podcasts first broadcast by CRBC Calabar Radio. Dr. (Chief)Ivor Miller of the African Studies Center in Boston is a Fulbright scholar conducting research in the Cross river region of southeast Nigeria and Cameroon.
To listen to the podcast please click the Cuba Calabar Radio logo to the right.

His interviews with Ene Ita focus on Cuban Abakuá culture and its relationship to Ékpè societies in the Cross river region.

Asere Nunkue: Abakuá and Ékpè presence in Cuban popular music.

2010-07-31T20:17:00.000-07:00

Photo Credit:Joaguín Ordoqui García

Asere is an Efik salutation or greeting commonly used by members of the Abakuá society in Cuba. In more modern times it has become a term very closely linked to the Cuban identity, used as a greeting among close friends ,or brothers. Nunkue is an Efik word for capital(Roche) which the Abakuá in Cuba have adapted as an Efik name for Havana.

In the 20’s the Cuban Son was at the height of its popularity in Cuba. Due In great part to the technological innovations of the 78 rpm. Columbia records and Victor were both issuing recordings of sextetos from Havana in the 1920's. Unlike the larger Danzón orchestras of the time, the mobile nature of these smaller sexteto groups immediately made them very popular(Diaz-Ayala). Despite the reduced instrumentation the sexteto created a big enough sound to get the attention of the dancers and keep them on the dance floor. The strident and aggressive voices of Abelardo Barroso , Machin and Maria Teresa Vera proved to be adequately suited to these groups.

When the Son arrived in Havana it became very popular among the rumberos. Evidence of this can be found in the large number of sextetos that came out of neighborhoods like Jesus Maria, Cayo Hueso and Los Sitios located just outside Havana’s city walls. They were home to many of the Port of Havanas labor force and many of Havana’s Abakuá lodges. These extra mural neighborhoods produced some of Cubas most famous rumberos and rumba groups and spawned Sextetos like the Sexteto Habanero, Sexteto Machin featuring singer Abelardo Barroso, Sexteto Boloña, Sexteto Munamar, Sexteto Columbia, Sexteto Matancero founded by Issac Oviedo and Sexteto Occidente which featured some of Cuba’s first recorded Abakuá chants in a Son context. Penned by Ignacio Piñeiro (Havana, 21 May 1888 – 12 March 1969) Abakuá member of the Efori Nkomon lodge. The poet of the Cuban Son went on to form the Septeto Nacional de Ignacio Piñeiro in 1927 and became one of Cuba’s most celebrated arrangers and composers.

The lead singer and guitarist of the short lived Sexteto Occidente was Maria Teresa Vera (1895-1965). A star in her own right, she performed at the Apollo theater in Harlem at 23 years of age before an adoring crowd and went on to become the Mother of the Trova . She can be heard on the 27 recorded songs in Occidentes discography on Columbia Records starting in 1926.

The podcast features two of Cubas legendary sextetos. Sexteto Occidente and Sexteto Habanero. The latter is the only existing Cuban sexteto. We end the podcast with another Ignacio Piñeiro composition ushering in the era of the Septeto with his Septeto Nacional. These selections come from the collection of Dr. (Chief) Ivor Miller author of Voice of The Leopard, where you may find a detailed account of the compositions below and their Abakuá influences.

---------------------------Onel Mulet for N'dibo Yeve Ngo

Podcast Tracks

Los Cantares del Abakua (Sexteto Occidente)
Criolla Carabali (Sexteto Habanero)
En La Alta Sociedad (Sexteto Occiedente)
Efi Embemoro (Septeto Nacional Ignacio Piñeiro)

Part 2 of Ékpè, Abakuá. Shared cultural traditions of Calabar and Cuba.

2010-07-21T00:31:00.000-07:00

This is part two in the last of two interviews where Dr. (Chief) Miller talks with Mrs Offiong Ani Offiong about Ekpé traditions preserved in Cuba for over 200 years and the way in which these traditions have been faithfully preserved by Abakuá members from lodges in Havana and Matanzas. Dr. (Chief) Ivor Miller of the African Studies Center, Boston University is a Fulbright scholar in Calabar, Nigeria. http://www.crbconline.net/ Thanks for your support. We urge you to please subscribe to our blog as well as our podcast Cuba Calabar Radio where we are featuring a musical history of Abakua music from Arsenio Rodriguez, Septeto Nacional, Maria Teresa Vera and more.

Ékpè, Abakuá The Shared traditions of Calabar and Cuba.

2010-07-13T21:31:00.000-07:00

This is the second of two interviews where Dr. (Chief) Miller talks with Mrs Offiong Ani Offiong about the variants of Ékpè traditions maintained in Cuba for over 200 years by Abakuá members from lodges in Havana and Matanzas. Dr. (Chief) Ivor Miller of the African Studies Center, Boston University is a Fulbright scholar in Calabar, Nigeria. http://www.crbconline.net/

Tribute to Francisco Aguabella

2010-05-09T21:15:00.000-07:00

A cadre of some of Cuba's finest musicians came to the states in the fifties, creating the bedrock for traditions established in cities like New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco , Miami and Chicago. Francisco was part of a Cuban vanguard exodus that included percussionists Julito Collazo , Candido Camero, Carlos "Patato" Valdes, Armando Peraza, Luis Miranda and Mongo Santamaria, when he left Cuba in 1954 to work on the Shelly Winters film "Mambo", made on location in Italy. This was followed by a tour with Katherine Dunham and an international career that spans over five decades performing with artists Peggy Lee, and Frank Sinatra to Lalo Schifrin, Paul Simon and The Doors among many others. His contributions to Jazz, Afro-Cuban Jazz, and Rock n Roll are proof positive that Francisco Aguabella was always at the forefront of innovation, all the while dipping into the bottomless well of Africa and Matanzas.

Franciscos legacy is preserved on a slew of recordings including his dates as a leader on the Cubop label. But it's in the film "Sworn to the Drum", directed by Les Blank where one gets a firsthand look at how Aguabella earned the respect and admiration of so many, so fortunate to have borne witness to the master with such profound knowledge and respect for his roots/traditions. In recognition of his profound love and respect for his music and for the generosity with which he shared his knowledge Francisco has been honored with the National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Durfee Foundation's Master Musicians' Fellowship.

His humble beginnings in Matanzas, Cuba where he was consecrated to the drum, more than adequately prepared him for his journey. Francisco Aguabellas' priorities were always the music and the accurate, dignified representation of his cultural traditions; the legacy left to him by his ancestors.

Francisco Aguabella(1925-2010)
Ibae Ibae Entonu Embelese Olodumare

Side Notes..

In April of 2007 I had the unique opportunity to share the stage with Francisco Aguabella, Carlos "Patato" Valdes and Candido Camero during a Blue Note performance. It was an experience that I will never forget; like being on Mount Olympus, and I thank the legendary Sonny Bravo, pianist and musical director that night, for putting me on that date. To learn more about Francisco Aguabella please go to his website The photo of Francisco Aguabella is by Orestes Matacena.

- Onel Mulet. Brooklyn, NY

Dr. (Chief) Ivor Miller CRBC Interview...

2010-04-15T14:00:00.000-07:00

On a recent visit to Cross River Broadcast TV, Dr. (Chief) Miller talks with Mrs Offiong Ani Offiong about Ékpè traditions preserved in Cuba for over 200 years and the way in which these traditions have been faithfully preserved by Abakuá members from lodges in Havana and Matanzas. This is the first of several interviews with Dr. (Chief) Ivor Miller of the African Studies Center, Boston University.He is a Fulbright scholar in Calabar, Nigeria. http://www.crbconline.net/

African Scholar; Bata drum and dance master Jeleel Ojuade

2010-04-02T21:28:00.000-07:00

Voices from Africa: The evolution of culture.

I have been away from the blog for a bit these days due to my commitments in New York and the constant grind required to get the word out about the good work that so many people are doing. I have been wanting to introduce the work of a fine African artist and scholar from Kwara state, for a while now. He is an expert on Yoruba Bata and Dundun dances with many years of experience in the traditional practice with a body of research on the language of the dance and the drum.

Ojuade, Jeleel Olasunkanmi is a Lecturer I and Researcher with the Performing Arts Department, Faculty of Arts, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria. An expert dancer with emphasis on Yoruba Bata and Dundun dances, born 40 years ago. He holds a B.A. (Hons) from the Performing Arts Department, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Kwara State (1993), M.A. (African Studies) in Dance at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Oyo State (1997), LL.B. (Hons) Common Law (2003) and MBA in Business Administration (2006) from the University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Kwara State respectively. He belongs to a number of local and International organizations including Association of Professional Negotiator and Mediators (APNM), International Dance Council - CID-UNESCO, International Federation for Theatre Research (IFTR/FIRT) and the Society of Dance, History, Scholars (SDHS). Currently, he teaches dance with the Performing Arts Department, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Kwara State and a Ph.D Candidate in Dance at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan

Publications:

1. Ojuade, Jeleel Olasunkanmi "Dance Culture and Development in Nigeria: A Study of Gese Dance of the Yorubas",
2. Ojuade, Jeleel Olasunkanmi "African Dance in Diaspora The Yoruba example from Nigeria",

Ima Edi Obio

2010-02-01T12:49:00.000-08:00

Maobong Oku is a beautiful and dynamic dancer, instructor, and percussionist from the Efik tribe of Calabar , Nigeria . Filled with the energy of a child, the wisdom of a wise woman and the ageless spirit of a dancer, she has touched many audience's hearts. When you come see her perform, you will be mesmerized by how she radiates to the beat of the drum with an aura of light, grace and sophistication.

I had the great pleasure of being introduced to the work of Maobong Oku a short while ago and today I would like to share this jewel of Calabar with those who love Nigerian/ African culture. She is a true representative of the culture of Calabar and one with great pride in her people and her work. She has traveled the world spreading her message of love and bestowing the blessings of the ancestors on all who witness her gifts. I hope to hear much more from Maobong and that you all will help me in spreading the message of love that is so representative of African culture and that of the diaspora. Again I remind everyone to subscribe to our blog and to the Cuba Calabar Radio podcast for constant streaming of Cuban abakuá and African Ekpé music.

African Scholar; Bata drum and dance master Jeleel Ojuade

2010-01-25T18:00:00.000-08:00

Voices from Africa: The evolution of culture.

I have been away from the blog for bit these days due to my commitments in New York and the constant grind required to get the word out about the good work. I have been wanting to introduce the work of a fine artist and scholar for a while now. He is an expert on Yoruba Bata and Dundun dances with many years of experience in the traditional practice and a body of research on the language of the dance and the drum.

Ojuade, Jeleel Olasunkanmi is a Lecturer I and Researcher with the Performing Arts Department, Faculty of Arts, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria. An expert dancer with emphasis on Yoruba Bata and Dundun dances, born 40 years ago. He holds a B.A. (Hons) from the Performing Arts Department, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Kwara State (1993), M.A. (African Studies) in Dance at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Oyo State (1997), LL.B. (Hons) Common Law (2003) and MBA in Business Administration (2006) from the University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Kwara State respectively. He belongs to a number of local and International organizations including Association of Professional Negotiator and Mediators (APNM), International Dance Council - CID-UNESCO, International Federation for Theatre Research (IFTR/FIRT) and the Society of Dance, History, Scholars (SDHS). Currently, he teaches dance with the Performing Arts Department, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Kwara State and a Ph.D Candidate in Dance at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan

Publications:

1. Ojuade, Jeleel Olasunkanmi "Dance Culture and Development in Nigeria: A Study of Gese Dance of the Yorubas",
2. Ojuade, Jeleel Olasunkanmi "African Dance in Diaspora The Yoruba example from Nigeria",

Enyenison Enkama; Abakua inspired paintings.

2010-01-21T15:58:00.000-08:00

Jose Orbein is a Cuban painter residing in Miami florida. His series entitled Enyenison Enkama was inspired by the landmark recording of the seminal New York Abakuá group of the same name, representing the ten songs that comprise the release entitled Ecobio Enyenison. The debut was celebrated with Abakuá music and dance, including masquerade, at the Walter Gallery of Miami on December 29th. Jose Orbein has traced his ancestral lineage back to Calabar, Nigeria. When interviewed for Wynwood Art Magazine in 2008 he had this to say about his work:

"Orbeín began painting intuitively. This aptitude was encouraged by his maternal grandmother, who lacking the resources to provide him with materials, gave him cardboard and craft paper, so that he could paint on them with charcoal or anything else he might find; elements that the author has taken up again in many of his recent works. Orbeín confesses that it was painting that saved him from a difficult childhood and an adolescence marked by delinquency and marginality. He did not study arts formally; instead, he had possibly the best of all masters, the Cuban painter, Humberto Peña. Friendship with this creator provided him with theoretical training and a solid upbringing."

Bate Nico Music video from Cameroon.

2010-01-20T18:10:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!!. I have been wanting to get some of these videos from Calabar , Nigeria and Cameroon on here lately and here it is. Finally!. I hope you all enjoy it. I remind all of you to please check out the Cuba Calabar Radio podcast and make sure to subscribe for constant streaming of Cuban abakuá and African Ekpé music.

About Bate Nico:

Bate Nico and Nkongho Regina his wife are Manyu Born Folklore Artist and hail from Kembong and Ossing(cameroon) respectively.They have been in the entertainment industry since 1990 and are now one of the most charming, dedicated Manyu rising stars and folklore Singers.

They have since recorded 3 Albums in Kenyang and Ejagham. Their imagination,creativity, and a combination of blended taditional and cultural lead vocals / local musical intruments thril thousands of fans everyday. Some of their popular tracks include if man no die,mmon aree mmon, wube bi zi eba. Nyen a nob, Ndaack.

It should be noted that Bate Nico was classified as the best folklore Singer in 2006 by the " Amongst Youth Magazine".

Happy New Year!

2010-01-18T11:26:00.000-08:00

This year we look forward to more posts about Ekpe culture in Southwest Cameroon and Calabar Nigeria. Dr. Ivor Miller is in Nigeria right now traveling through Ekpe land. Here is a new podcast of Ekpe music that I hope you will enjoy. I have entered the titles of the tracks as more information becomes available. I invite all to subscribe to our blog, podcast and youtube channel as well. Please feel free to email me the names of your favorite artists from Calabar. We will be posting many more Ekpe music videos from our archives this year as well.

El Ven Tu de Rumberos at Roman Diazs' house late '90's

2009-10-14T23:31:00.000-07:00

This video was shot at the home of Roman Diaz in Havana, Cuba during the late nineties. It shows members of the seminal rumba group "El Ven Tu" performing rumba and abakua chants dances and rhythms alongside some of their Japanese students. This is rare candid footage of the group that recorded the album Wemilere. Complete with Abakua masquerade Roman dancing traditional Abakua steps and an interview with the great Chavalonga.This video is from Romans personal collection and we hope you will all enjoy it. It is the first of several parts we will be posting on the youtube.com page and the blog.

Ecobio Enyenison Podcast

2009-10-14T11:42:00.000-07:00

Please enjoy our latest podcast featuring the release of Ecobio Enyenison by Enyenison Enkama. This group is founded by the dedication and scholarship of Dr. Ivor Miller and is headed by Roman Diaz, Angel Guerrero and Pedro Martinez. Stay tuned for updates the CD will be available very soon on iTunes, Amazon etc... on the Habana|Harlem™ label. Enjoy the music and please subscribe to our podcast for the latest in music from Cuba and Calabar. Our next podcast will feature music from mid 70's and early 80's Calabar.

Establishing a Covenant

2009-09-10T09:38:00.000-07:00

A new covenant has been born of the scholarship of Dr. Ivor Miller and the music of Enyenison Enkama, in the open arms of Ekpé lodges in Calabar, Nigeria and the Mamfe region of Cameroon. 200 years of separation have been breached through the sounds of ekon, enkame, the pouring of libations and a fraternal embrace that spans the Atlantic. The CD release party for Enyenison Enkama’s landmark CD titled Ecobio Enyenison (Brother Africa) saw the Ireme and the Idem dancing together at Joe's Pub Saturday night amidst a crowd of smiling faces joyful in the sounds of Roman Diaz's deep drumming pulse and nyangue poetry, Pedro Martinez's daring riffs and soaring voice accompanying Angel Guerrero's epic enkames. Accompanying them was a pulsing, grooving band and Steve Turré’s singing shells weaving melodic through the grooves. Pure Ibiono. Thank you Joe's Pub and a very special thanks to Neyda Martinez Executive Producer for Habana|Harlem™.

-------Onel Mulet for N'dibo Yeve N'go

Photo Credit: Geoffrey Gibson Miller

Enyenison Enkama CD Release party Sept. 5th Joe's Pub at 9:30PM

2009-08-28T20:47:00.000-07:00

Join us on this historic occasion. The first time an Abakua record is made on U.S. soil featuring the talents of Roman Diaz, Pedro Martinez, and Angel Guerrero with special guest Steve Turre. Listen to "Eribo Eriboñe" just one of the tracks off the new album "Ecobio Enyenison".

Habana | Harlem (TM)
Sept 5th 9:30 PM at Joes Pub
The CD Release of Ekobio Enyenison. Don’t miss Enyenison Enkama’s world premiere performance; featuring Roman Diaz, Angel Guerrero, Pedro Martinez and Special Guest Steve Turre.
For press comp's, CD review copy and artist interviews, contact:
Neyda Martinez, Founder/Exectuive Producer, Habana | Harlem (TM) Cell: 917 656 7846; neydamartinez1@hotmail.com
Onel Mulet, Artistic Producer, Habana | Harlem (TM) Cell: 718 909 6464; onelmulet@hotmail.com
Tickets on sale now! Only $15! http://www.joespub.com/component/option,com_shows/task,view/Itemid,40/id,4752
In 2001, after many years of dedicated research and hard work on the part of Dr. Ivor Miller and the members of Enyenison Enkama Nigerian Ékpè and Cuban Abakuá met to display their related traditions, likely for the first time since separation through slavery some 200 years ago. The mutual excitement of this summit meeting, held at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, led to several further meetings, each incrementally larger. When the Obong (paramount ruler) of Calabar visited the USA in 2003, the Abakuá who arrived to greet him received invitations to visit Calabar. In 2004 the Governor of Cross River State, his Excellency Donald Duke, arranged for two Abakuá to visit an Ékpè festival in Calabar, where the Cubans won the hearts and respect of Ékpè leaders. In 2007, the Musée Quai Branly of Paris invited two groups, one Nigerian Ékpè, and another Cuban Abakuá, to perform onstage for a series of five concerts exploring common themes in the music, chants, body masks, and visual signs of each group. The conversation that unfolded onstage demonstrated to both groups the significance of their links.

This recording by Proyecto Enyenisón Enkama features many world class musicians such as Pedro Martinez, Paquito D'Rivera, Oriente Lopez and Steve Turre in 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.

Cuba Calabar Radio

2009-06-15T08:14:00.000-07:00

This is a collection of nine songs cited in Dr. Ivor Miller's latest publication The Voice of The Leopard. I hope you will enjoy this latest stream and continue to grace us with your comments and feedback. We would really like to hear from all of you.

Okim Agbor Esija "The True Essence"

2009-05-26T20:38:00.000-07:00

Okim Agbor Esija. Interview by Dr. (Chief) Ivor Miller with H.H. Okim Agbor Esija, Clan head of Ikom, Village head of Abokim Ngbabor, Ikom Town. February, 2008.

Chief Agbor Esija introduces himself, then explains what the term 'brikamo' means in the Nkòmè language spoken by the people of Ikom urban. Among Cuban Abakuá, 'bríkamo'is a reference to 'the real origin', the sacred land of Usagaré. While visiting this chief, I heard the term 'bríkamo' in reference to palm wine, and the local gin made from it, used to pour libations to the ancestors. 'Brikamo' means 'the real one', the best quality drink, or, 'the essence of' the drink used by Ékpè. One can see how this term would become used in Cuba to mean 'the essence of Abakuá'.

Since Chief Esija passed away in April of 2008, we are posting this five minute video in his memory, and so that Cuban Abakuá can learn about the culture of the source region of their own traditions.

The Voice of The Leopard.

2009-04-17T11:13:00.000-07:00

Dr. Ivor Miller will be participating in a panel discussion on the sacred voices of the Abakua Lucumi and Vodou traditions as well as the origins of Congo traditions. Featured panelists include Dr. Robert Farris Thompson beginning at 1PM

Saturday, April 25, 2009
Hostos Community College/CUNY
450 Grand Concourse at 149 St. The Bronx

Voice of the Leopard
African Secret Societies and Cuba

By Ivor L. Miller
Foreword by Engr. (Chief) Bassey E. Bassey

432 pages (approx.), 6 1/8 x 9 1/4 inches, 28 color and 32 b&w illustrations, 4 maps, foreword, 3 appendices, glossary, bibliography, index

How African secret societies changed the music, art, and history of Cuba

In Voice of the Leopard: African Secret Societies and Cuba, Ivor L. Miller shows how African migrants and their political fraternities played a formative role in the history of Cuba. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, no large kingdoms controlled Nigeria and Cameroon's multilingual Cross River basin. Instead, each settlement had its own lodge of the initiation society called Ékpè, or "leopard," which was the highest indigenous authority. Ékpè lodges ruled local communities while also managing regional and long-distance trade. Cross River Africans, enslaved and forcibly brought to colonial Cuba, reorganized their Ékpè clubs covertly in Havana and Matanzas into a mutual-aid society called Abakuá, which became foundational to Cuba's urban life and music.

Miller's extensive fieldwork in Cuba and West Africa documents ritual languages and practices that survived the Middle Passage and evolved into a unifying charter for transplanted slaves and their successors. To gain deeper understanding of the material, Miller underwent Ékpè initiation rites in Nigeria after ten years' collaboration with Abakuá initiates in Cuba and the United States. He argues that Cuban music, art, and even politics rely on complexities of these African-inspired codes of conduct and leadership. Voice of the Leopard is an unprecedented tracing of an African title-society to its Caribbean incarnation, which has deeply influenced Cuba's creative energy and popular consciousness.

This book is sponsored by a grant from the InterAmericas(r) / Society of Arts and Letters of the Americas, a program of the Reed Foundation.

Ivor L. Miller, a cultural historian specializing in the African Diaspora in the Caribbean and the Americas, is currently a Research Fellow at the African Studies Center, Boston University. His previous book, Aerosol Kingdom: Subway Painters of New York City, was also published by University Press of Mississippi. Engineer (Chief) Bassey E. Bassey of Nigeria is highly regarded in the Calabar community for his knowledge of the history and practice of the Ékpè system and is the author of Ékpè Efik.

Painting--"La fuerza del mambí," by Jorge Delgado, photograph by Daniel Swadener

432 pages (approx.), 6 1/8 x 9 1/4 inches, 28 color and 32 b&w illustrations, 4 maps, foreword, 3 appendices, glossary, bibliography, index

Proyecto Enyenison Enkama

2009-04-15T19:09:00.000-07:00

April 14, 2009

Proyecto Enyenison Enkama

Titulo del Cd Ecobio Enyenison

1.Eribo Eriboñe2-Ekon Erima3-Itia Fondova4-Yumba Efo5-Danza Ñañiga6-Neri7-Mariba Konkai8-Beromo Ñampe9-Isunekue10-Iro Gañu

African secret societies played  a formative role in Cuban cultural history. During the eighteenth and  nineteenth centuries, no large kingdoms controlled Nigeria and Cameroon's  multilingual Cross River basin. Instead, each settlement had its own  lodge of the initiation society called Ékpè or Mgbè (leopard), which was in  effect the highest indigenous authority. Ékpè/ Mgbè lodges ruled local  communities while also managing regional and long distance trade. Cross  River Africans, enslaved and forcibly brought to the Americas,  became known there as ‘Carabalí’, after the port of Calabar from which many embarked. Evidence of Carabalí cultural practice is found today in Salvador Brazil, Colombia, Haiti, Jamaica, Panama, Puerto Rico, and Santiago de Cuba. However, only in Havana and Matanzas, Cuba did Carabalí leaders reorganize their Ékpè clubs into a  mutual-aid society called Abakuá, a term likely derived from the Àbàkpà community of Calabar.   Abakuá ritual  languages and practices became a unifying charter for transplanted Africans and their successors; its ideas and expressions became foundational to Cuba’s  urban life and music. Each lodge is a school that trains members in the performance of ritual theater and visual arts, as well as jurisprudence, or the legal codes of social organization. An analysis of Cuban popular music reveals ‘Carabalí’ influence in all genres, including danzón, rumba, son and timba. Cuba’s most famous 20^th century painter, Wifredo Lam, incorporated Abakuá signs into his works, confirming this fraternity as a cultural symbol of the nation itself.

In 2001, Nigerian Ékpè and Cuban Abakuá met to display their related traditions, likely for the first time since separation through slavery some 200 years ago. The mutual excitement of this summit meeting, held at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, led to several further meetings, each incrementally larger. When the Obong (paramount ruler) of Calabar visited the USA in 2003, the Abakuá who arrived to greet him received invitations to visit Calabar. In 2004 the Governor of Cross River State, his excellency Donald Duke, arranged for two Abakuá and me to visit an Ékpè festival in Calabar, where the Cubans won the hearts and respect of Ékpè leaders. In 2007, the Musée Quai Branly of Paris invited two groups, one Nigerian Ékpè, and another Cuban Abakuá, to perform onstage for a series of five concerts exploring common themes in the music, chants, body masks, and visual signs of each group. The conversation that unfolded onstage demonstrated to both groups the significance of their links.

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

1) “Eribó Eriboñé”

Homenaje a un territorio sagrado para los abakua, el territorio de Orú (Uruan en el sureste de Nigeria) y a una de sus piezas sagradas, el simbolico tambor Eribó. Este número es una fusión de la musica abakua con elementos de jazz (en el bajo y trompeta). La campana del son cubano se escucha en la marcha. El numero tiene tres guías: Ángel, Román, y Pedrito. Los dos ‘cherekawa’ (maracas, o ‘erikunde’) estén en estilo de los Ékpè de Calabar.

Homage to a mythic territory sacred to the Abakuá — ‘Orú’ — (known as Uruan in southeastern Nigeria), and to one of its sacred instruments, the Eribó symbolic drum. (Uruan and Efik Ékpè leaders recognized ‘Eribo’ as ‘Dibó’, a core term for their Ékpè system). This composition is a fusion of Abakuá music with jazz elements (in the bass and trumpet). The bell pattern of the Cuban son is heard in the ‘march’. This recording has three lead voices: Angel, Román, and Pedrito. The two ‘cherekawa’ maracas, or ‘erikunde’) are played in the style of Calabar Ékpè.

2) “Ekon Erimaó”

En las culturas del Rio Cruz el ekon (‘nkong’ in Efik) representa la comunidad, porque es el instrumento de llamar todos a orden. Este composición se nombre con el titulo del ekón, porque es un homenaje al fundamento ekón. En Abakuá, el termino ‘Ekon Abasi’ (campana de Dios) quiere decir ‘naturaleza’, siendo el fuente del sagrado mineral del hierro y del sagrado vegetal con que se hace los cherekawa o ‘erikundi’ (maracas). Este composición evoca sentimientos que se desarolla dentro de la madre naturaleza en la forma del ekon el y erikundi, que se complementa con la voz humana y la música abakua, llamado ‘ibiono’. Este composition menciona los siguientes frases:

“Achereka waboko” (los güiros, maracas), “ibonko enchemiyá” (tambor que habla).

“Ibiono asere” (no se puede hacer la música si no lo sientes).

“Ekon akribia emban eri mabó” (hay que tocar el ekon bien).

“kufon ekon abasi beromo,” ‘El colegio de los sabios’ (referencia a las escuelas de enseñanza del Abakuá).

In Cross River traditions, the ekon bell (‘nkong’ in Efik) represents the community, being the instrument used to call people to order. This composition — an homage to the sacred ekón— is named with a title of the ekón bell. In Abakuá, the term ‘Ekon Abasí’ (bell of God) means ‘nature’, the source of the iron and vegetation with which both the ekón and ‘cherekawa’ or ‘erikundi’ (maracas) are made. This composition is a meditation on mother nature as expressed in the forms of the ekon and erikundi, complimented with human voice and abakuá music, known as ‘ibiono’. This composition mentions the following phrases:

“Achereka waboko” (the güiros/ gourds, maracas), “ibonko enchemiyá” (the ‘talking drum’).

“Ibiono asere” (one must feel the music in order to play it).

“Ekon akribia emban eri mabó” (the ekon must be played well).

“kufon ekon Abasí beromo,” ‘The college of wisemen’ (a reference to the Abakuá initiation schools).

3) “Itia Fondogá”

Un homenaje a los Abakuá de Matanzas y a su música.

La frase ‘El amo no quiere que toco tambor’ es un montuno de Los Muñequitos de Matanzas que refleja la lucha para mantener la cultura, en este contexto específicamente la cultura carabalí.

An homage to the Abakuá of Matanzas and to their music. The phrase ‘El amo no quiere que toco tambor’ (the master doesn’t want me to play drums) is a chorus created by the Muñequitos of Matanzas that reflects the struggle to maintain inherited traditions, in this context those of the Carabalí.

4) “Yumba Efo”

5) “Danza ñáñiga” (Ernesto Lecuona)

“Danza lucumi,” nos dice el maestro Paquito D’Rivera, es el nombre original de esta obra de Ernesto Lecuona. Gracias a la versión del maestro con el grupo Irakere, esta obra llegó a nuestros días tras; su presencia en esta nueva versión nos honra. Entre sus letras son:

‘El secreto vive en lo natural,

Flora y fauna su expresar,

Viejos tratados que cuidar.’

Coro: “Si tu no estas” (es decir, el fe del neófito es un elemento esencial en el proceso del juramento).

“Danza lucumi,” according to maestro Paquito D’Rivera, is the original name of this composition by Ernesto Lecuona. Thanks to the version of D’Rivera recorded by the group Irakere in the 1970s, this composition has remained in the contemporary repertoire; the presence el maestro in this new version honors Proyecto Enyenisón Ekamá.

This version also takes inspiration from Saldiguera, a founding singer with the Muñequitos of Matanzas, as well as from popular Cuban poetry from the early 20^th century. Among the lyrics are:

‘The secret lives in the natural world,

Expressed in flora and fauna,

Ancient pacts must be kept.’

This chorus is: “Si tu no estas,” ‘if you are not present.” That is: the faith of the neophyte is an essential element in the process of initiation.

6) “Neri”

Homenaje al papel del río (Neri) en la desarrollo del Ékpè en las comunidades del Río Cruz. El río era la fuente de comida, ruta de transporte, y referencia para adoración, un papel que no se perdió en Cuba en la organización de Abakuá.

La frase “kaña neri efó,” hable del nacimiento de lo divino en Ékpè, hace siglos en África y que todavía está viva.

Homage to the role of the river (Neri) in the development of Ékpè in communities along the Cross River. As source of food, as route for transportation, a reference for worship, this role was present in Cuba during the organization of Abakuá.

The phrase “kanya neri efó” evokes the birth of the divine in Ékpè centuries ago in Africa, an energy that the contemporary membership evokes in the present.

7) “Mariba Konkai”

La frase ‘mariba konkai’ quiere decir ‘las profundidades del mar’. Un homenaje a Nasako, el adivinador, quien con sus poderes, sabiduría, paciencia, fue capaz de unir los tribus en Africa por crear Ékpè a través de lo divino.

Coro: “Nangando mariba ekue uyo unkeno.” (se canta para hablar del procesión al río). En Abakuá, nangando ‘el río’; mariba ‘el mar’; ekue ‘Ékpè’; uyo ‘la voz’. Esta traducción tiene igual sentido a través de los idiomas Efik y Balondo en la zona del Río Cruz.

The phrase ‘mariba konkai’ means ‘the depths of the sea’. This composition is an homage to Nasako, the diviner, who with his powers, wisdom, and patience, was able to unite many communities in Africa by creating Ékpè through contact with the divine.

The chorus: “Nangando mariba ekue uyo unkeno” (chanted in reference to a procession to the river). In Abakuá, nangando ‘the river’; maribá ‘the sea’; ékue ‘Ékpè’; úyo ‘the voice’. This interpretation has the same meaning in the Efik and Balondo languages of the Cross River region.

8) “Beromo Ñampe”

9) “Isunékue”

Dedicado a los Isunékues, una plaza (titulo) de suma importancia histórica, según nos afirma el ilustre Isunékue Ernesto Sotolongo ‘El Zambo’, de la potencia habanera Itiá Mukandá.” ‘El Zambo’ fue uno de los tantos colaboradores en mi trabajo “La voz del leopardo” (2009).

La introducción es una poema en español sobre la importancia de Isunékue en la religión:

“Misterioso donde habita el divino, misterioso fambá. Allí Isunékue cual muralla protectora, la vista hacía adentro, mirada constante a los elementos superiores, que rigen el fluido de la vida.”

La melodía del montuno es contemporánea del Calabar, que enseñaron los Ékpè de Calabar a los cubanos en Paris 2007. Las letras del montuno son Abakuá en homenaje al Isunékue.

El ritmo de este composición tiene ‘gurarpachangéo’, creado por ‘Los Chinitos López’ en el barrio Jacomino (o ‘La Corea’) en el reparto de San Miguel de Padrón, La Habana. El ‘gurarpachangéo’ es la base de la rumba-guaguancó actual. La rumba siempre se ha mantenido en conexión con la música sagrado del rito y de la música popular. En este grabación se está utilizándolo por estas razones.

Dedicated to Isunékue, a title of tremendous historic importance, as confirmed by the illustrious Isunékue Ernesto Sotolongo ‘El Zambo’, of the Havana potency (lodge) Itiá Mukandá.” ‘El Zambo’ was one of many colleagues who supported research for my book “The Voice of the Leopard” (2009).

The introduction is a poem in Spanish regarding the importance of Isunékue in the Abakuá tradition, translated as:

“Mystical realm where the divine lives, mysterious fambá [temple]. There Isunékues is a protective wall, with his gaze turned inward, is ever watchful of the principal elements that govern the flow of life.”

The melody of the montuno (chorus) is contemporary from Calabar; it was taught to the Cubans by Calabar Ékpè during their interactions in Paris (2007). The Abakuá lyrics in this chorus speak to the importance of Isunékue.

The rhythm of this composition uses ‘guarapachangéo’, created by ‘Los Chinitos López’ in the barrio Jacomino (or ‘Korea’) in the region of San Miguel de Padrón, Havana. The ‘guarapachangéo’ is the base for the contemporary rumba-guaguancó genre. Rumba music has always been maintained in close relation to Cuban ritual music; it has also been a source of inspiration for popular commercial music. It is used in this recording for both these reasons.

10) “Iro Gañun”

Esta composición señala la importancia de los Efik en el desarrollo del Ékpè en Africa. Según el mito, en África, “Iro Gañun” era nombre de los Efí Nuróbia antes de consagrase. Muchas de las consagraciones que se hicieron en tierra Efí en África, se hicieron en tierra Efí Nuróbia. Esta composición es un homenaje al territorio Efí Nuróbia, donde había cazadores colindante con Efí Abarakó. En Cuba, el termino Abarakó es muy probable derivado de Mbarakom, una comunidad en Creek Town (Obioko), cerca de Calabar, y importante en la historia de Ékpè.

Este numero hace una dualidad: hable de las consagraciones en el pasado en África, y hable de Efí Núrobia, una potencia habanera y su familia: Efi Abaraká Itá, Efi

Akwarayo, Efí Eru Kánko, y Efí Masongo.

This composition signals the importance of Efik communities in the development of Ékpè in Africa. According to the myth, in Africa, ‘”Iro Ganyun” was a name for the Efí Nuróbia before they were brought into Ékpè; many of the ritual pacts made in Efik territory in Africa were conducted on land controlled by Efí Nuróbia, and their neighbors Efí Abarakó. In Cuba, the term Abarakó may be derived from Mbarakom, a community in Creek Town (Obioko), near Calabar, with an historically important tradition of Ékpè.

This composition speaks of ritual acts in the African past, as well as of the contemporary Havana lodge Efí Nuróbia and its family (ritual linage): Efi Abaraká Itá, Efi Akwarayo, Efí Eru Kánko, and Efí Masongo.