Abakua Going Public
Abakua Going Public
Abakua Going Public
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Abstract: The AbakuaiSociety for men is derived from the West African Ekpe Soci-
eties of the Cross River region. It was founded in Havana, Cuba, in 1836 to resist
slavery, and has since been active in many aspects of Cuban culture. Although her-
metic and little known even within Cuba, an analysis of Cuban popular music
recorded from the 1920s until the present reveals Abakuaiinfluence in nearly every
genre of Cuban popular music. Abakua lore is orally transmitted, and Cuban musi-
cians who are Abakua members have continually documented key aspects of their
society's history in commercial recordings, often in Abakuai language. Because
theirs is a secret language for initiates only, Abakua have commercially recorded
actual chants of the society, knowing that outsiders cannot interpret them. Even so,
these recordings have been very popular because the Abakua represent a rebel-
lious, even anticolonial, aspect of Cuban culture. Now played throughout the Amer-
icas, Africa, Europe, and Asia, Cuban popular music and its derivatives maintain
Abakua language and aesthetics as integral elements. Because so little has been
written about the society by members themselves, commercial recordings with
Abakua content are an important source of knowledge about this group. While lis-
tening to the lyrics, I realized that Abakua musicians have sung about their contri-
butions to Cuban history, their liberation struggles, and race relations. My research
suggests the rising importance of Abakua as a symbol of Cuban culture.
Resume: La Societd des hommes Abakua tire son origine des Societes Ekpe ouest
africaines de la region de Cross River. Elle fut fondee a Havane a Cuba en 1836
pour resister a l'esclavage et est depuis active dans bien des aspects de la culture
cubaine. Bien qu'elle reste hermetique et peu connue mime a l'interieur de Cuba,
une analyse de la musique populaire cubaine enregistree depuis les annees 1920
161
jusqu'a nos jours revdle l'influence Abakui dans presque tous les genres de
musique populaire cubaine. La tradition Abakua est transmise oralement, et les
musiciens cubains membres d'Abakua ont continuellement documente des aspects
essentiels de l'histoire de leur soci6t6 dans des enregistrements commerciaux, sou-
vent en langue Abakua. Comme leur langue est une langue secrete reserv&eexclu-
sivement aux initi6s, les Abakua ont enregistr6 dans le commerce de v6ritables
chants de cette soci6te, tout en sachant que les profanes ne pourraient pas les inter-
pr6ter. Pourtant, ces enregistrements furent extremement populaires car les
Abakua representent un aspect rebelle, voire anticolonialiste de la culture cubaine.
Aujourd'hui jou6e partout dans les Am&riques, en Afrique, en Europe et en Asie,
la musique populaire cubaine et ses derives maintiennent la langue et l'esth6tique
Abakua comme parties int6grantes. Parce que si peu a et& 6crit sur cette societ6 par
ses membres eux-memes, les enregistrements commerciaux comprenant un con-
tenu Abakud sont une source importante de connaissances sur ce groupe. En
6coutant leurs paroles, nous nous sommes rendus compte que les musiciens
Abakua ont chante leurs contributions a l'histoire cubaine, leurs luttes pour la
liberation et les relations entre les races. Nos recherches suggerent l'importance
grandissante d'Abakua en tant que symbole de la culture cubaine.
-Abakuai saying
the society's history. One of the ramifications of this dispute is a lack of well-
documented histories of the Abakuaiand their impact in Cuban history.
Abakuai groups are probably similar in structure to Masonic lodges.5
Abakuaimembers call their groups juegos,partidos,potencias,or tierras.Juego,
the word most commonly used, refers to a team or an aligned collective.
Partidorefers to a team or a political party. Potencia,meaning "potency" or
"power,"is reserved for the eldest and largest groups, some of which are
almost 160 years old and include six hundred men. Their power lies not
only in the number of members, but also in the age of their sacred attrib-
utes, some of them made by the Calabari founders of Abakua. Tierra,
another word used to describe Abakuaigroups, literally means "land,"yet it
is used expansively to include the ideas of territory, nation, or land of the
ancestors, meaning the three regions of Calabar that gave roots to the
Abakui, known in Cuba as Eff (Efik), Ef6 (Efut), and Orui (Oron). Abakuai
juegos are founded and named based on tratados(origin myths or mythic
histories) from Old Calabar, each recounting how various territories joined
the sacred brotherhood. Thus each group is mythically descendant from
Efi, Efo, or Orn. In ceremonies the actions of important ancestors from
these territories are enacted, recited, and sung about.
Juegos are composed of a hierarchy of dignitaries. Each post or posi-
tion-called in Spanish plaza and in Abakuai obon (obongmeans "king" in
Efik)-is charged with specific responsibilities. The various Abakuai obones
required to conduct ceremonies, each one with a distinct and vital func-
tion, reflect the social organization of the Cross River region before British
rule in Nigeria. Several of the highest dignitaries receive a scepter called a
mufion-each muii6n representing a founding ancestor of the society
(Ortiz 1955:241). The mufionesand sacred drums, emblems, and signs are
metonyms for mythic and actual people, animals, and symbols important in
Abakua history.
The term for ceremony-plantar (literally "to plant")-is intimately
connected to ideas of land and of founding. The term plantar associates rit-
ual actions with the planting of trees sacred to Abakuai.Abstract ideas like
God, brotherhood, unity, and ancestors are concretized in Abakua practice
through metaphoric associations with the land.
At the core of Abakuaitradition is the fundamento.6Its multiple mean-
ings, felt in all aspects of the society, imply sacred law and moral authority.
Elders who transmit sacred knowledge are considered fundamento.Objects
in which supernatural forces are concentrated are called fundamentos.Ulti-
mately the fundamentos represent the supreme divinity (Abasi), the source
of all existence. Abakuaiorigin myths tell that this force was embodied by
Trinse, the divine fish whose capture led to the creation of the society in
Africa. The fundamento central to all ritual action is the Bongo6
Ekue,which
in turn represents Tainse;it is the sacred drum through which the Voice of
God reverberates.7 Other ceremonial objects such as drums, scepters, mas-
querade costumes, and cauldrons contain and often can transmit funda-
mento after ritualized contact with the Ekue drum. Many fundamentos are
constructed using materials taken from the earth, where ancestors are
buried, and from the bush, where sacred medicines grow. The society func-
tions like an extended family, with diverse ancestors, but the fundamento
is regarded as the original ancestor, now divine. The sacred oaths made
during initiation to the fundamento must not be transgressed. Doing so, it
is believed, puts one in grave danger.
Because Abakuaifundamentos are established in northwestern Cuba,
this region is the center of all the society's activity.The consecration of land
that accompanied the creation of the first fundamento by Calabari immi-
grants definitively established Abakuai in Cuban soil. This act was a vital
strand in the continual construction of Cuba as sacred land. Cuban Abakuai
do not look upon the geographical location of Africa as homeland, as did
the original RastafariansofJamaica who sought repatriation to "Ethiopia."8
On the contrary, Abakuaifundamentos allow the society to exist as a sepa-
rate state within the nation, with their own language and laws. Because they
live on ground consecrated by their fundamentos, Abakuaigroups consid-
er themselves sovereign lands (tierras) whose primary allegiance is to Ekue,
the fundamento.9
Although its leaders consider their groups sovereign lands, all Abakuai
groups share a common mythology and organizing structure. Following
the tratado of each group, they are identified with one of the several Cross
River ethnic groups-Eff, Ef6, and Orui. These groups are relatively inde-
pendent yet are answerable to a group of elders (recognized for their mas-
tery of Abakuai lore) who convene in times of crisis. For example, in the
mid-twentieth century, a basaibeke(knowledgeable elder) like "Chuchui"
Capaizof Regla, Havana, and his disciples recreated and reorganized sev-
eral groups whose aging members had died. In 1998 I witnessed a multi-
juego collective of ob6nes conduct an initiation ceremony to fill in vacan-
cies in the groups' knowledgeable membership.10 In this way, the inde-
pendent groups act as a society, respecting the uniqueness of each group
(considered a tribe by its members), and acting collectively in crisis
moments.
The AbakuaLanguage
A variety of distinct ethnic groups inhabiting southeastern Nigeria and
western Cameroon were exported to the Caribbean region as slaves.
Because, on the one hand, the port from which many departed was Old
Calabar, and on the other, the language of many others (from the Niger
delta) was Kalabari, many of them became known as "Calabarf"(and later
in Cuba, "Carabalf,"reversing the land r), the same way that various Yoribi
subgroups became known collectively as the "Lukumf,"and various Bantu
groups became known as the "Congo." One way to understand the trans-
formation of many distinct but culturally related peoples into the Cuban
Carabali is to examine the diverse sources for their language.11
Languages created by African slaves, like Louisiana Creole or Haitian,
commonly utilize the vocabularies of European languages and make use of
their own indigenous grammar (Arends et al.1994:10, 99; Hall 1992: 188).
Now termed "creole languages," they were used by newly transported
Africans of diverse regions to communicate with each other as well as with
whites. In contrast, as Abakui was not used to communicate with non-Cross
River people in contact situations, it is not a creole language at all. The
influence of Spanish appears to be minimal, found primarily in the plurals
at the end of words. As an esoteric language used exclusively for ceremo-
nial purposes among initiated men, it is more likely a mixture of various
"initiation dialects" (called "argots"by some scholars) of the Cross River
region. This possibility must be considered seriously because many West
African guilds have such initiation languages unknown to non-initiates,
such as the ena (initiation language) of the btati and the duinduindrum-
mers guild (called Ayin) of the Yorubi (Ablfffibo1i1998). Among the
Igbo, members of the Oyo
Ayika society learn "secret or fancy words" (Meek
1937:73). The titled elders in the Igbo kingdom of I'ri used a "secret lan-
guage" called dlz to communicate amongst themselves in order to maintain
"ritual/economic monopoly" (Manfredi 1991:265-73).
Many key words in the Abakuailanguage are slightly transformed from
words still used in the Calabar region (Sosa 1982:395-414); for example,
the word ireme (spirit dancer) derives from the Efik idem;Ekue (sacred
drum) derives from the Efik ikp? (leopard); asire (ritual greetings) derives
from the Ejagham (Ekoi) asere.Used to evoke ancestral forces and the
Great Power of God, Abakuai words are believed to motivate inanimate
forces into action. We cannot be more conclusive as to the linguistic histo-
ry and structure of Abakudivariants until collaborative research between
Cuban Abakuai and Nigerian Ekpe language speakers is conducted. The
Abakuai source texts-the epic narrative of the society's creation-are
maintained in the orally transmitted Abakuai language. In contemporary
Cuba, there are two Abakuailinguistic varieties: BrikamoKalabari (used to
conduct ceremonies throughout the society) and Sudma (of Igbo deriva-
tion and spoken only in Matanzas). This results in considerable variations
in stock Abakui phrases, and each master has a unique way of under-
standing and relating them.
The performance of Abakui language is a key element to leadership in
the society. Members constantly test each others' knowledge by discoursing
in Abakuai,following one phrase with another which the next person must
respond to and then take the discussion further, until a gap is left which the
less knowledgeable person cannot fill. Dialectic interaction is core to
Abakui performance, whether in call-and-response recitations or in poly-
metric interactions among the Ireme dancers, drummers, and dignitaries.
The Abakui language has influenced Cuban popular speech, as in the
Folklore Cubano; Nicolas Guillen, who published his first book of poetry,
Motivos de son, in 1930; Alejo Carpentier, who published his first book,
iEcue-Yamba-O!, based on the Abakuai,in 1933; and Lydia Cabrera, who pub-
lished ContesNEgresde Cuba (Paris, 1936).13 Cuba's renowned composer
Ernesto Lecuona frequently used Afro-Cuban themes in his salon music,
such as his 1930 "Danza de los f-ififigos." In 1928 both Rita Montaner
(Spottswood 1990:2123-24) and Ronda Lirica Oriental (Caignet 1993)
recorded "Carabalf"by F61ix Caignet (1892-1976), a composition inspired
by the cabildo Carabali Isuama in Santiago de Cuba. Important for its cel-
ebration of the integration of African culture into Cuban society, "Cara-
bali" was also performed by Rita Montaner in Paris in the late 1920s
(Moore 1997:174; Caignet 1993).
Just as both Antonin Dvoirik and B61laBart6k used eastern European
folk music in their compositions, Cuban symphonic composers Amadeo
Roldain (1900-1939) and Alejandro Garcia Caturla (1906-40) used Afro-
Cuban themes in their own works, which became symbolic expressions of
Cuban nationalism. Roldainworked with an Abakudidrummer and had his
own Abakudi drums constructed. The compositions "La rebambaramba"
(1928), "Ritmicas"(1930), and "El diablito baila" by Roldain,and "Berceuse
campesina" and '"Yamba-O"(1928-29) by Caturla use themes and struc-
tures of Abakua and other Afro-Cuban music (Le6n 1991:280-81; Carpen-
tier 1980:305-29; Moore 1997:205-6).14 "Poemas Afrocubanos," a collabo-
rative effort between Caturla and Carpentier using Abakua themes, was
premiered in Paris in 1929 (Caturla 1980).
In the visual arts, Cuba's most famous painter, Wifredo Lam, was
inspired by Afro-Cuban religions. Returning from an apprenticeship with
Picasso in France, Lam lived in Cuba from 1941 to 1952, where Alejo Car-
pentier and Lydia Cabrera encouraged his exploration of Afro-Cuban
themes. A 1943 painting (untitled) depicts an Abakuaiireme with conical
headgear and playing a drum. The conical Abakui mask appears repeat-
edly in Lam's later work in abstracted forms. In 1947 he painted "Cuarto
Fambi," his imaginary recreation of the Abakuaiinitiation room, which of
course he never saw ( WifredoLam, 1992).
Abakuai ceremonies are based on performances of liturgical drum-
ming, dancing, and chanting. Outside of the actual ceremonies of the soci-
ety, Abakuaimusicians have dramatically influenced Cuban popular music.
Since the colonial days, the majority of all Cuban musicians have been
Africans and their descendants (Moore 1997:19)15 Abakui musicians in
particular, being familiar with polyrhythmic drumming traditions central
to Afro-Cuban religions, integrated these rhythms-as well as other verbal
and musical elements from Afro-Cuban religions-into popular music as it
emerged in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Elder musicians in Havana like 'Juanillo" Febles (1914-) remember
that composer Enrique Pefia (1881-1924), a cornet player in the Indepen-
dence (Mambi) army of general Antonio Maceo, was an Abakuri member
Ekue, also called Bong6 Ekue, is the single-headed friction drum sacred to
Abakud'whose sound imitates a leopard roar. Ekue is revealed only to spe-
cific titled elders-it is heard, but not seen, by others. Ortiz wrote, "The
Ekue is an instrumentumregni" (Ortiz 1955:236). Its "bull roarer" sound
emerging from the fambd temple is the signal that divine contact has been
made, and that all other ceremonial activity may commence. Another
Cuban drum is called bong6.It is a secular, double-headed drum of Kongo
origin, and came to Havana with son music from Oriente Province in the
early 1900s. It apparently came with the name bongo6 24 - if so, the name is
a marvelous coincidence, because there is no known historical relation
between the secular bong6 drum used in early Cuban son music and the
divine Bong6 Ekue. Bongo is rather a general term used throughout the
Bantu territory, which extends up to Old Calabar. Still, the secular bong6
can be manipulated to recreate both the roar of the Bong6 Ekue as well as
the rhythmic pulsations of the bonk6enchemiyadrum also used in Abakuai
ceremony.
Several important secular bong6 players and other musicians in early
Havana son groups were Abakuai members.25 In the 1928 recording of
"D6nde estaiscoraz6n," the Abakudimember Agustin Gutierrez of Sexteto
Habanero simulates (using a technique called "glissade") the roar of Ekue
on his bong6 (Sexteto Habanero 1995b). In a 1928 recording under the
direction of Abakuaimember Ignacio Pifieiro (1888-1969), bong6cero Jos6
Manuel Incharte "El Chino" clearly imitates the roar of the Ekue funda-
mento (Sexteto Nacional 1993).
In his classic mambo "Baibarabatiri"Beny More makes a coded refer-
ence to Abakuaiby shouting "Ikui!,"a variation of "Ekue" (More 1950). He
performs a similar gloss, "Ekue irikue," at the end of "En el tiempo de la
colonia" (More 1982a). In another mambo, Machito and His Orchestra
make coded references to the Abakuai Society by singing 'Yo soy asarori/
Rumba, para los Abase ao." In Abakui-, asarorimeans good or fine; "los
Abase" refers to Abakuai neophytes, or "the children of Abasif"(Machito
1993).26 This is not "cross-over music," that is, music intentionally white-
washed and primly dressed for mass consumption. This music serves a dual
purpose: to reach an international dancing public, and to communicate in
codes with those Cubans whose sentiments are attuned to African-derived
religions. This "double performance" phenomenon is known to occur
throughout Caribbean culture, not only in music but also in political dis-
course, literature, and art (Benitez-Rojo 1992:220-21).27
Other practicing Abakuaiof the period often presented their material
in coded forms deliberately intelligible only to those in the know. In the
1920s Ignacio Pifieiro composed "En la alta sociedad" (In high society)
which begins with a burlesque of high society people attempting to play
Abakuai rhythms (Vera 1994).28 The song ends with a call-and-response
chant led by the Morud Yudnsa (The singing dignitary): "Ekue Uyo Ke
Akanapon dibio dibio dibio kondo" (The voice of our sacred mother Ekue
is roaring). The response is a long phrase that mentions three important
dignitaries (Mos6ngo, Eff Mereme, and Ekuefi6n) and a phrase from the
tratado (mythic history) of one of the oldest and most powerful Abakuai
groups at the time, Abakui Ef6 of Regla: "Sanga prokama nandibai ek6bio
Abakuai Ef6" (I am going to the sacred river, my brothers). This song was
one of many in a genre created by Pifiiero called "clave fiifiiga" using the
Abakui standard 6/8 meter and complete Abakui phrases (hablando en
'lengua')(Linares 1998).
Despite the coded language, Abakuai members who have performed
song or theater that re-enact ceremonial procedure have faced suspension
or removal from within the society for having revealed its secrets and inti-
mate language before a secular audience (Ortiz 1981:444,446). Several
Abaku- elders told me that Pifieiro was barred from becoming a dignitary
of his Abakuwgroup.29 In fact, Abakui music and chants can be recorded
commercially without revealing secrets, because few outside the society
understand the language. In like fashion, Yoruib~diviners of West Africa
(called babalkwo) speak an esoteric language and thus they can converse
with each other about secrets in public (Abfifib61l 1998). Even so, the
Abakua group to which Pifieiro belonged, the oldest in Cuba, seems not to
have permitted the public performance of Abakuw language.
Pifieiro not only recorded Abakua chants commercially but also wrote
lyrics about a little known aspect of the brotherhood: the white males of
elite society who became Abakuwmembers from the 1860s onward. Juan de
la Cruz Iznaga, a founding member of the Septeto Nacional and an
Abakud, had many contacts among Cuban businessmen and politicians.30
Pifieiro's "Iyamba bero" (ca.1925-28) refers to the local politicians and
businessmen he met in the course of playing music for their private parties.
Rumba
Ritual Abakui music and dance, as performed both by Abakui and by non-
Abakui, have influenced a variety of secular Cuban music and dance forms.
The use of the Abakui term for sweet music with a groove-ibidno--in the
guaguanc6 (a genre of rumba music) signals the influence of Calabar in the
street music of Havana and Matanzas. In December 1997 I watched a street
Abakuaiin Africa
Cuban popular music, now performed throughout the Americas, Asia,
Europe, and Africa, became wildly popular throughout sub-Saharan Africa
from the late 1940s onward.37 A major factor was the "GV"series of the
British EMI record company, which exported over two hundred titles of
mostly Cuban music (Stapleton & May 1990:20). In addition, African elites
returning home from Paris brought Cuban recordings with them. Afro-
Cuban-styled dance bands, formed from Senegal to Kenya to the Republic
of the Congo, often sang in Spanish (Harrev 1992; Kazadi 1971). In this con-
text many Africans who became musicians remember listening to Cuban
rumba and son as children. One of them, Ricardo Lemvo, originally from
Kinshasa, Republic of Congo, recently recorded "Mambo Yo Yo," an inter-
Since the early twentieth century, Cuban music has reached other interna-
tional audiences in at least three ways: through early recordings by RCA
Victor and Columbia records in Havana, New York, and Spain; through
American and European tours of Cuban orchestras like the Lecuona
Cuban Boys; and through fusion with United States jazz. Some composers
of cabaret-style music have juxtaposed words from Lukumi, Palo Monte,
and Abakuailiturgies for their exotic appeal on the international market.
With the concurrent interest in black culture in Paris and New York that
nourished "Negritude," the Harlem Renaissance, as well as the related
Afrocubanismo movement of Havana, groups like the Lecuona Cuban Boys
(who were probably not Abakuai) toured successfully with their cabaret-
style music. Even if they did not really know the meaning of the words they
sang, no one in the audience did either! These works are not valuable as
sources for learning about the society in the way that Pifieiro's and the Sex-
teto Habanero's compositions are, but they do reflect the diffusion of Afro-
Cuban music into a global phenomenon. In 1937 the Lecuona Cuban Boys
recorded "Chevere,"which includes the lyrics, "I am chevere... the black
man who never looks back is chevere" (Lecuona 1992).39 Through the
popularity of the Cuban son and its derivative, Salsa music, the word chivere
(or chibere)is now used throughout Latin America and recently in the Unit-
ed States. The contemporary Cuban singer Issac Delgado is known as "El
ch~vere de la salsa" (Delgado 1994). In 1972, Stevie Wonder recorded a
song that revolved around this Abakui term. He sang, "Ispeak very very flu-
ent Spanish, todo esti bien chebere, you understand what I mean?,
ich~bere!" The chorus responded with "Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing -
ich~bere!" (Wonder 1972). "Folie Negre," recorded by The Lecuona
Cuban Boys in 1936, uses other Abakuai and Kongo phrases (Lecuona
1993). It begins: 'Yamba e, Yamba e [a reference to Iyaimba,high dignitary]
Eyeneka [from the society's name, Enyene Abakuai] Owaka6mba Nganga
[Nganga: a Kongo phrase for fundamento] Ekoriko Abakuai[a gloss on the
society's name, Ek6rio Enyene Abakuai] Mokondo, Mokondon do
[Mokond6: the costume of an Ireme dancer] Yamba e Mok6ngo [ two
Abakuai dignitaries] Efi Etete Mok6ngo [Eff Etete: an Abakuai group].40
The song ends with an imitation of the roar of the Ekue drum.
In Afro-Cuban jazz (or Latin jazz), among the first great milestones
were two compositions by Dizzy Gillespie and the Cuban drummer Chano
Pozo. Called "Manteca"and "Afro-Cuban Suite," they were performed in
1947 with the Gillespie Band, integrating Abakuai ceremonial music and
chants with jazz harmonies.41 In "Afro-Cuban Suite," Pozo chants "Iyf
baribai benkamai," a ritual phrase paying homage to the celestial bodies.
Dizzy performed these compositions into the mid-1980s as standards, fus-
ing Abakuairhythms to U.S. popular music.42
The enduring legacy of this collaboration is felt in numerous ways. In
the late 1940s conga and bong6 drums became symbols for the emerging
beatnik movement, and the conga drum is now a standard instrument in
the United States. In Cuba, groups like Irakere have developed sophisti-
cated jazz vocabularies. Musical tributes to Chano Pozo began in 1949, the
year after his death (Valdes 1994), and continue to the date of this writing
(Reyes 1999). In 1954, Perez Prado recorded "Voodoo Suite (Afro Cuban
Jazz Suite)," which uses some Abakuaiwords (Unkere'bokounkinde;Mimba;
Yamba-O)in call-and-response phrases based on Pozo's "AfroCuban Suite."
In 1977 in California, Cuban bassist "Cachao" recorded his composition
"Ecue: Ritmos Cubanos," a jam session beginning with the Abakuai ek6n
(bell) pattern and reminiscent of Pozo's work (Bellson 1977). In 1977 in
Havana, David Amram recorded "En memoria de Chano Pozo" with Los
Papines (Amram 1978), a rumba group whose members are Abakuai
(Miller forthcoming). In 1996, the Cuban drummer Tata Guines recorded
a bold version of Beny More's "Rumberos de Ayer" (Rumba players of yes-
terday). This tribute to Chano Pozo begins with an Abakuaichant sung by
"Goyo" Hernindez (himself a member), "Chano Pozo Obonekue Ef6ri
Mufiainga Ekue ata upon mafi6n ata chiminakako mafi6ngo Chano Pozo
Abasi menguime" (Gilines 1996). This phrase affirms Chano's status as
Obondkue(initiate) of the Abakuai group Mufiinga Ef6, and ends with
"Abasi menguime"(May God bless you). After the chant, the music
changes to a guaguanc6 rumba, a reaffirmation that modalities of Cuban
sacred and popular music interweave at high velocities. In New York City,
the legacy of the Dizzy/Chano collaboration runs powerfully through the
music of Bobby Sanabria, a jazz drummer whose new album integrates
Abakui themes with, for example, Charlie Parkers's "Donna Lee," in the
call-and-response chant "Ch6bere que ch~bere, ch~bere kifi6ngo!"
(Sanabria 2000).
Prognosis
Abakui, like other Afro-Cubanreligions,is esoteric,non-proselytizing,and
hidden from the general public.Yetmusicianswho havebeen Abakuaihave
used its themes and liturgicaltraditionsto generate Cubanpopularmusic
from the late nineteenth century until today (the cha-cha-cha, the danza,
the danz6n, the mambo, the rumba,the son, the songo,the timba,and the
trova).The Abakuailanguage, though considered secret, has continually
been recorded in popular music. Because the society is hermetic, these
recordingsare an importantsource for scholarswho seek to understand
the impact of Africain Cuba.
Don FernandoOrtiz (1881-1969) is regardedas the "thirddiscoverer"
of Cuba, largelyfor his pivotaland voluminousstudies of Cuba'sAfrican
influences. In 1913 he argued that "orthodox"Africaninfluence in Cuba
would be "extinguished"as those born in Africadied out and their descen-
dants became more and more Cubanized(1987:89).Anthropologicalthe-
ory of Ortiz's day held that so-called primitive religious cultures would
become extinguishedor assimilatedas a resultof contactwithWesternedu-
cation and logic. A 1923 recording of an Abakuaimusicaltheme seems to
support Ortiz'sclaim. "Loscantaresdel Abakudi" by Pifieiro is performed
in a "folkmusic"style (with guitar and two harmonizingvoices) in both
Spanishand Abakudi,an arrangementthat suggeststhe dilution of Abakui
"orthodoxy"by mixing Spanishand Abakui texts, ritualchantswith a gui-
tar duo (Vera 1998). In the 1920s Afro-Cubanmusic was somewhatmar-
ginalized-partially hidden and only recorded commerciallywithin musi-
cal structuresacceptable to the buying public. As African-derivedculture
was seen as a hindrance to the integrationof blacksinto Cubansociety,its
presence was diminishedin recordings.
Why is it, then, that jazz in the U.S. has been recharged (i.e.,"re-
Africanized")throughCubanritualmusicinsteadof, say,the African-Amer-
ican Ring Shout that Sterling Stuckeyargues laid the foundation for jazz
music? (Stuckey1987:95,364 n.53). How is it possiblethatAbakuaihas not
only survivedin Cuba,but also become vital to its popular culture?How is
it possible that in the 1990s, "orthodox"Abakuaimusic as it is heard in
secret ceremonies is being recorded completelyin the Abakuailanguage?
Africansin Cubadid die out, but manyof their descendants(as well as
those of Europeanand Asianancestry)maintainedvariantsof Africanances-
tral religious traditions by hiding them from the larger society. These cultur-
al traditions,moreover,gained exposure during the CubanRevolution,as
politicalleadersframedthe rebelliousnatureof nineteenth-century
anticolo-
nial institutions like the Abakudias important building blocks upon which the
revolution triumphed.43 Today, the impact of the current economic crisis is
evident in the tourist industry that has been created around Afro-Cuban reli-
gious culture. Within this unprecedented context, Abakui (as well as Ocha
and Palo Monte) ceremonial music is being commercially recorded.
damento has made Cuba a sacred land: Ekue, Ekue, chabiaka Mok6ngo
Ma' chebere!
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Notes
1. The author thanks E. J. Alagoa, Jill Cutler, Crist6bal Diaz Ayala, Juan Febles,
Radames Giro, Jill Hartley, Maria Teresa Linares, Kathryne V. Lindberg, Victor
Manfredi, Rogelio Martinez-Fure, Lynn Miller, Robin Moore, Colin Palmer,
Armin Schwegler, and several Abakua elders who wish to remain anonymous
for their help toward the creation of this article. All translations are by the
author unless otherwise noted.
2. Specifically the movement led by Aponte in 1812 and the Conspiracy of La
Escalera in 1844 (Deschamps 1964:97-109). La Escalera (the Ladder) is
thought by some historians to have been an international antislavery conspira-
cy. It was named after a ladderlike device to which Spanish and Cuban author-
ities tied suspected conspirators for torture and execution (Paquette 1988).
3. In the Abakua Provincial Meeting on February 18, 1996, Esteban Lazo, the
First Secretary of the Cuban Communist Party in Havana Province, said that
there were fifteen thousand Abakuaimembers in Havana. (Pascual 1997:38, 40,
42).
4. To protect the Abakui elders who granted me interviews, their names are not
disclosed in this article.
5. Masonic groups like Roman de la Luz were in fact functioning in Havana con-
temporaneous with the Abakua in the nineteenth century (Deschamps
1964:108). Men's secret societies are widespread across cultures of the world.
6. Fundamentos have deep significance not only for practitioners of Abakuai,but
also for the Yoruiba-derivedIfi and Ocha religions, as well as for the Kongo-
derived Palo Monte practices, all of which have distinct fundamentos corre-
sponding to their various divinities.
7. "The words Ekue, 'leopard,' 'mother,' 'fish,' and others are homologous"
(Ortiz 1954:38).
8. Ethiopiawas originally used in the biblical sense (Psalms 68: 31), but came to
mean the modern nation-state, as well as Africa in general (Campbell
1987:47-50, 220-224; Waters 1985:46-47).
9. This pattern of independent settlement closely resembles the social organiza-
tion of precolonial southeastern Nigeria (Henderson 1972).
10. OnJune 29, 1998, I participated as the group Usagare Ibondai Ef6 initiated the
plaza of Moni Bonk6 in the temple of the group Usagare Oror6 Mayambeke in
Havana.
11. The Abakua language appears to have been created in Cuba by integrating the
lexicons and possibly syntaxes of several languages of Southeastern Nigeria
and Southern Cameroon. In Cuba these languages are known as Kalabarif,
Apapa, Suaima,Ori, Bibi, Brfkamo, and Ososo. In Africa, Kalabari is a dialect
of Eastern Ijaw (Ijo), a language cluster with several groups of dialects which
have a "partialoverlapping of intelligibility" between them (Williamson & Tim-
itimi 1983:xv,xvi). Apapa is probably Abikpa, an Efik term for the Ejagham
people (Forde 1956:66 note la). Ejagham are considered part of the Ekoi lan-
guage cluster from the upper Cross River basin (Crabb 1965). Suima derives
from Isui-Ami, an ethnic term for an Igbo subgroup. is a clan of the Igbo
Isfi
people, Amni means "of the road," i.e., "Isfi Diaspora" (Afigbo 1981:12-13).
Ori is a language known as Oro (Oron) in the Cross River. Faraclas classifies
Oro (Oron) as a "Lower Cross Language" (1989: 384). Bibifis Ibibib, an ethnic
and linguistic term. Ibibi6 languages have approximately two million speakers
(Faraclas 1989:384). Oro, Ibibio, Efik, and Usakade, all of which are important
in Cuban Abakui, are considered to be part of the same "Lower-Cross"lan-
guage cluster, which have an estimated six million speakers (Urua 1997:189).
Other groups known among Cuban Abakuaias Eff, Usagare and Ef6 are called
Efik, Usakade, and Efut in Africa (Ortiz 1954:35; 1955:242; Thompson
1984:241; Faraclas 1989:385).
12. Cabrera recorded this variation of the same phrase: "Mutia kereke sanga
molop6: oreja no puede pasar cabeza" (1988:370).
13. For a comprehensive overview of the Abakuaiand other Afro-Cuban religions
in literary treatment, see Matibag (1996).
14. "La rebambaramba," a ballet based on collaborations with Carpentier, was
inspired by a nineteenth-century painting of the Dia de Reyes celebrations,
which presents the successive procession of three comparsas(carnival troupes),
one Lukumif, the next Kongo, and the last Abakuai (Moore 1997:204; Beniftez-
Rojo 1998).
15. An 1846 census claimed that there were 298 "white" and 618 "free colored"
musicians in Cuba. From "Cuadro estadistico de la siempre fiel Isla de Cuba,
correspondiente al afio de 1846." Cited in Martinez-Alier (1989:169).
16. Sr. Febles, whose father was the babaliwo (Ifi diviner) Ram6n Febles, and
whose brother Ram6n was a member of the Abakuaigroup Ef6ri Buiman, can
be heard playing giOiroon the album Charanga:Nacional de Concierto,centenario
del danz6n, 1879-1979, EGREM, LD 3715.
17. A recording of "El Nifiigo" (1982) by an orquestatipica composed of two clar-
inets, a cornet, a trombon, a figle (ophicleide), and two violins uses the same
instrumentation as did Enrique Pefia. According to Sr. Febles, an unreleased
recording by the Orquesta Tipica o de Viento (Benildes Morales Olivera, direc-
tor) also using the same instrumentation as Pefia, interpreted it closer to the
militaristic conception of Pefia's original. Performed for local radio, it is found
in the archives of Odilio Urf6 in 17 street and E street, Havana. '"Juanillo"
Febles played with this orchestra; I heard this recording from his personal
archives.
18. Based on an interview with Cuban musicologist Lapique Becali in 1993, Robin
Moore writes, "Although abakud traditions do not seem to have affected the
danz6n musically or choreographically, it is likely that Faflde and many of the
musicians in his orchestra were members of such brotherhoods" (Moore
1997:24). Although Abakua came to Matanzas circa 1862 (Miller forthcom-
ing), and Faflde lived in a barrio with Abakuai traditions, more fieldwork is
needed to confirm his membership. With greater certainty, I can say that
Faflde was an initiate of Santeria, and had Oyai (goddess of wind and transfor-
mation) "made." (Personal communication, May 1999, with Rogelio Martinez
Fure, founder and artistic director of the Conjunto Folkl6rico Nacional de
Cuba, whose grandmother lived in the same barrio as Faflde, and who was also
an initiate).
19. Composer and flutist Octavio "Tata"Alfonso (1866-1960) blended elements of
Abakua' liturgy into his danzones (Urf6 1977:234-35). Ricardo Rever6n com-
posed "Ireme Maco Ireme " (Urf6 1992).
20. "En el tiempo de la colonia, tiempo de Sese erib6" (More 1982). Recorded in
1954. Note that "Sese erib6" may be pronounced "Senserib6" on this record-
ing. Although language pronunciation fluctuates, especially when sung, for the
sake of clarity I have given the orthodox spelling.
21. Kifi6ngoliterally means "sworn in, according to one of my anonymous infor-
mants. This composition also makes reference to Lukumi and Kongo religions.
Carlos Embale was not Abakuai,but an initiate of Chang6 in the Lukumi tra-
dition. Many of his family are Abakuai (Miller forthcoming).
22. Arsenio Rodriguez, '"Yosoy Carabali, negro de naci6n... sin la libertad no
puedo vivir."From his composition "Bruca Manigua" (son Afro-Cubano).
23. This legend is maintained on both sides of the Atlantic. Referring to general
opinion of would-be slave-buyers about Cross River slaves in the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries, Hugh Thomas writes: "The slaves of Calabar were
considered the least satisfactory, since they were rebellious" (1997:362).
24. This is the position of both Cuban musicologists and musicians I spoke with
(Linares 1996). "Carusito"Florencio Hernindez (1913-), a son musician since
the 1920s, told me the double-headed drum was always called "bong6." His
wife, Juana Loisa Galano, who was raised in Bayamo, Oriente, in the 1920s,
and of Efik [it was the spirit of Sikain]). In addition, baron':good; Abasi divine.
Mafiongo, said one of my Abakuai informants, could also be fundamento, a
supernatural extension of the powers of the forest.
39. 'Yo soy chevere... el negro que no vira para 'trasjamas, es chevere" (Lecuona
1992).
40. The words as sung are "Efi tere," but they refer to "Eff Etete," the name of an
Abakuaigroup.
41. In 1930 the Cuban Justo "Don" Azpiazu and his orchestra performed in New
York City, where one of his musicians, Mario Bauza, stayed. Afro-Cuban Jazz
began in 1943 when Mario Bauzai,in the band Machito and His Afro-Cubans,
composed "Tanga,"yet Chano Pozo's "Manteca"brought the musical fusion to
worldwide attention (Salazar 1993:6-7). (Afro-Cuban Jazz was the term pre-
ferred by Mario Bauza, considered the creator of the genre.)
42. Hear the original "Manteca"with Chano Pozo on Dizzy (1995). The best record-
ing of Dizzy and Chano that I know of was "Afro-CubanSuite," made live in
Paris, 1948 (Dizzy/Roach:1995). Gillespie chanted Abakud phrases he learned
from Pozo into the 1980s in his composition "Swing Low" (Dizzy 1985).
43. In his July 26, 1974, speech, Fidel Castro referred to slave rebellions in the
1840s in Matanzas by saying, "This was a heroic and beautiful page in the his-
tory of our country,... and we could say that these men were precursors to our
social revolutions." This was written on the wall of the museum of the Triunvi-
rato sugar mill, in Cidra Matanzas, which I visited in January 2000.
44. "Myvoy a profundizar/ en la lucha de Cuba/ para que la aprendas respetar...
Manuel de Cespedes los esclavos liber6 / ese hecho ?c6mo se llama? / Ese
hecho se llam6 el grito de Yara/ AsukurPikuan tiyen.""ProtestaCarabalf"(Yoru-
ba Andabo 1993). "Asukuruikuain tiyen" translates as "All powerful" (Cabrera
1988:81).
45. At the time the Cuban Ministry of Culture authorized several groups of "tra-
ditional music" (including the Septeto National, Septeto Habanero, Siglo 20,
Septeto Tipico de Sones, Tanda de Guaracheros) to function under the con-
dition of being protected for "National Interests." Their aim was to "preserve
the values" of Cuban traditional music. (Ignacio E. Ayme Castro "Richard,"
director of the Septeto Nacional, conversation with the author, November 21,
1999, Havana.)