Èkpé and Abakua with Chief Dr. Ivor Miller, Asukuo Ukpong and Roman Diaz.

In recent radio show here in New York I had the opportunity to broadcast from the home of Afro Cuban master drummer  Mr. Roman Diaz. We sat down with Chief Dr. Ivor Miller, Asukuo Ukpong, Pan-Africanist, architect and scholar, to discus the nature and context of select Calabar Highlife and urban styles of Cuban Son that feature Èkpé and Abakuá themes. Click on the links below to hear the programs. You may also download the archive if you like.


 Tuve la dicha de transmitir dos programas con ilustres maestros de las sociedades Èkpé y Abakuá, reunidos en  casa del maestro Roman Diaz, para llevar a la luz la raiz y el contexto de temas culturales dentro del genero Highlife de Calabar y el Son urbano de Cuba. Escuchemos la influencia del Èkpé y el Abakuá, respectivamente, llevado por custodios de la cultura como eran Ekpe Ita y Ignacio Piñeiro. Dos generos tan importante en la cultura popular en ambos lados del atlantico. El Embakara, Dr. Ivor Miller de la Universidad de Calabar y el señor Asukuo Ukpong del Calabar, junto a el maestro Roman Diaz, hablaran con mucha profundidad sobre este tema  para todos aquellos que aman esta cultura, llevenadola siempre a los niveles mas altos de la esfera socio-cultural.



Abasi menguame,

 Onel Mulet

 http://www.blogtalkradio.com/blackwholeradio/2014/05/30/habana-harlem-live


  http://www.blogtalkradio.com/blackwholeradio/2014/06/06/habana-harlem-live

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

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.