Abakuá
Encyclopedia
Abakua or Abakuá is an Afro-Cuban
men's initiatory fraternity, or secret society
, which originated from fraternal associations in the Cross River
region of southeastern Nigeria
and southwestern Cameroon
. Known generally as Ekpe, Ngbe, or Ugbe among the multi-lingual groups in the region, these closed groups all used the leopard
as a symbol of masculine prowess in war and political authority in their various communities. The term Ñáñigo has also been used for the organization's members.
, in 1836. and this remains the main area of Abakuá implantation, especially the district of Guanabacoa in eastern Havana, and in Matanzas
where Afro-Cuban culture is vibrant. While Abakuá eventually came to include members of European descent, this was not accomplished without conflict.
Abakuá members derive their belief systems and traditional practices from the Igbo
, Efik, Efut, Ibibio
, spirits that lived in the ditey forest. Ekpe and synonymous terms like Egbo, Ngbe, and Ugbe were names of both a forest deity and a leopard related secret society http://www.batadrums.com/background/abakua.htm. Robert Farris Thompson
, an art historian and African Diaspora
scholar, detailed the transformation and reemergence of this fraternal order in his classic Flash of the Spirit.
through their participation in the carnival on the Day of the Three Kings, when they danced through the streets wearing their ceremonial outfit: a multicolored checkerboard dress, with a conical headpiece topped with tassels Initially, the Abakua accepted only blacks as members; however, in the late nineteenth century the admission policies of the society were liberalized to include mulattos and whites.
The oaths of loyalty to the Abakua society’s sacred objects, members, and secret knowledge taken by initiates are a lifelong pact which creates a sacred kinship among the members. The duties of an Abakua member to his ritual brothers at times surpass even the responsibilities of friendship; so the phrase, “Friendship is one thing, and the Abakua another” is often heard. One of the oaths made during initiation is that one will not reveal the “secrets” of the Abakua to non-members which is why the Abakua have remained hermetic for over 160 years and is considered to be the most repressed and misunderstood Afro-Cuban religious practice.
contributed to the musical tradition the rumba
. The Calle family of Efo
origin supposedly invented the guaguanco
, a type of rumba .
Although hermetic and little known even within Cuba, an analysis of Cuban popular music recorded from the 1920s until the present reveals Abakua influence in nearly every genre of Cuban popular music. Cuban musicians who are members of the Abakua have continually documented key aspects of their society’s history in commercial recordings, usually in their secret Abakua language. Knowing that their language were for members only, the Abakua have commercially recorded actual chants of the society believing that outsiders wouldn’t be able to interpret them. Due to the Abakua representing a rebellious, even anti-colonial, aspect of Cuban culture, these secret recordings have been very popular.
people of the carabalí as well as their style of music and their percussion instrument
s.
Luciano "Chano" Pozo, conga drummer for Dizzy Gillespie
, was a member of the Abakwa secret society .
Abakuá Afro-Latin Dance Company, a dance company based out of New York City
, draws its namesake
from this origin. The purpose for selecting this name, was in order to recognize the company's link to the origins of the type of music the company performs to. The company does not claim to be an authentic representation of the specific style native to Abakuá but rather an amalgamation of movements native to Afro-Cuban/Caribbean culture and the development of the company's own unique style entitled Afro-Latin Funk. The selection of the name "Afro-Latin" was done in order to identify the company's presence within Latin and Hispanic culture as a whole. Frankie Martinez is the Artistic Director for the dance company.
Afro-Cuban
The term Afro-Cuban refers to Cubans of Sub Saharan African ancestry, and to historical or cultural elements in Cuba thought to emanate from this community...
men's initiatory fraternity, or secret society
Secret society
A secret society is a club or organization whose activities and inner functioning are concealed from non-members. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence agencies or guerrilla insurgencies, which hide their...
, which originated from fraternal associations in the Cross River
Cross River (Nigeria)
Cross River is the main river in southeastern Nigeria and gives its name to Cross River State.It originates in Cameroon, where it takes the name of the Manyu River....
region of southeastern Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
and southwestern Cameroon
Cameroon
Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon , is a country in west Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the...
. Known generally as Ekpe, Ngbe, or Ugbe among the multi-lingual groups in the region, these closed groups all used the leopard
Leopard
The leopard , Panthera pardus, is a member of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four "big cats" in the genus Panthera, the other three being the tiger, lion, and jaguar. The leopard was once distributed across eastern and southern Asia and Africa, from Siberia to South Africa, but its...
as a symbol of masculine prowess in war and political authority in their various communities. The term Ñáñigo has also been used for the organization's members.
Origin
The creolized-Cuban term Abakuá is thought to refer to the Abakpa area in southeast Nigeria, where the society was active. The first such societies was established by Africans in the town of Regla, HavanaHavana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
, in 1836. and this remains the main area of Abakuá implantation, especially the district of Guanabacoa in eastern Havana, and in Matanzas
Matanzas
Matanzas is the capital of the Cuban province of Matanzas. It is famed for its poets, culture, and Afro-Cuban folklore.It is located on the northern shore of the island of Cuba, on the Bay of Matanzas , east of the capital Havana and west of the resort town of Varadero.Matanzas is called the...
where Afro-Cuban culture is vibrant. While Abakuá eventually came to include members of European descent, this was not accomplished without conflict.
Abakuá members derive their belief systems and traditional practices from the Igbo
Igbo people
Igbo people, also referred to as the Ibo, Ebo, Eboans or Heebo are an ethnic group living chiefly in southeastern Nigeria. They speak Igbo, which includes various Igboid languages and dialects; today, a majority of them speak English alongside Igbo as a result of British colonialism...
, Efik, Efut, Ibibio
Ibibio people
The Ibibio are a people of southeastern Nigeria. They are related to the Anaang and the Efik peoples. During colonial period in Nigeria, the Ibibio Union asked for recognition by the British as a sovereign nation . The Annang, Efik, Ekid, Oron and Ibeno share personal names, culture, and traditions...
, spirits that lived in the ditey forest. Ekpe and synonymous terms like Egbo, Ngbe, and Ugbe were names of both a forest deity and a leopard related secret society http://www.batadrums.com/background/abakua.htm. Robert Farris Thompson
Robert Farris Thompson
Robert Farris Thompson is the Colonel John Trumbull Professor of the History of Art at Yale University....
, an art historian and African Diaspora
African diaspora
The African diaspora was the movement of Africans and their descendants to places throughout the world—predominantly to the Americas also to Europe, the Middle East and other places around the globe...
scholar, detailed the transformation and reemergence of this fraternal order in his classic Flash of the Spirit.
Members/Loyalty
Members of this society came to be known as nanigos, a word used to designate the street dancers of the society. The nanigos, who were also called diablitos, were well known by the general population in CubaCuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
through their participation in the carnival on the Day of the Three Kings, when they danced through the streets wearing their ceremonial outfit: a multicolored checkerboard dress, with a conical headpiece topped with tassels Initially, the Abakua accepted only blacks as members; however, in the late nineteenth century the admission policies of the society were liberalized to include mulattos and whites.
The oaths of loyalty to the Abakua society’s sacred objects, members, and secret knowledge taken by initiates are a lifelong pact which creates a sacred kinship among the members. The duties of an Abakua member to his ritual brothers at times surpass even the responsibilities of friendship; so the phrase, “Friendship is one thing, and the Abakua another” is often heard. One of the oaths made during initiation is that one will not reveal the “secrets” of the Abakua to non-members which is why the Abakua have remained hermetic for over 160 years and is considered to be the most repressed and misunderstood Afro-Cuban religious practice.
Culture and practices
Aside from its activities as a mutual-aid society, the Abakua performs rituals and ceremonies, also called plantes, full of theatricality and drama which consists of drumming, dancing, and chanting activities using the secret Abakua language. Knowledge of the chants are restricted to members of the Abakua but Cuban scholars have long thought that the Abakua expresses their cultural history through their ceremonies. Other ceremonies such as initiations and funerals, are secret and take place in the sacred room of the Abakua temple, called the famba.Music
The rhythmic dance music of the Abakuá combined with Bantu traditions of the CongoCongo Basin
The Congo Basin is the sedimentary basin that is the drainage of the Congo River of west equatorial Africa. The basin begins in the highlands of the East African Rift system with input from the Chambeshi River, the Uele and Ubangi Rivers in the upper reaches and the Lualaba River draining wetlands...
contributed to the musical tradition the rumba
Cuban Rumba
In Cuban music, Rumba is a generic term covering a variety of musical rhythms and associated dances. The rumba has its influences in the music brought to Cuba by Africans brought to Cuba as slaves as well as Spanish colonizers...
. The Calle family of Efo
EFO
EFO may refer to:* Errors, freaks, and oddities, non-standard stamps* Eddie From Ohio, a Virginia folk band* Egyptian Friendship Organization...
origin supposedly invented the guaguanco
Guaguancó
Guaguancó is a sub-genre of Cuban rumba, a complex rhythmic music and dance style. The traditional line-up consists of:* three drums, similar to conga drums: the tumba , llamador , and quinto...
, a type of rumba .
Although hermetic and little known even within Cuba, an analysis of Cuban popular music recorded from the 1920s until the present reveals Abakua influence in nearly every genre of Cuban popular music. Cuban musicians who are members of the Abakua have continually documented key aspects of their society’s history in commercial recordings, usually in their secret Abakua language. Knowing that their language were for members only, the Abakua have commercially recorded actual chants of the society believing that outsiders wouldn’t be able to interpret them. Due to the Abakua representing a rebellious, even anti-colonial, aspect of Cuban culture, these secret recordings have been very popular.
Practices
Ireme is the Cuban term for the masked Abakuá dancer known as Idem or Ndem in the Cross River region. The masquerade dancer is carefully covered in a tight-fitting suit and hood, and dances with both a broom and a staff. The broom serves to cleanse faithful members of the fraternity, while the stick chastises both enemies and traitors to the Abakuá traditions. Thus, during initiation ceremonies it is called the Erí nBan nDó, while during mournings and wakes it is called AlanManguín Besuá.Disambiguation
Abacuá also describes a group of Afro-CubanAfro-Cuban
The term Afro-Cuban refers to Cubans of Sub Saharan African ancestry, and to historical or cultural elements in Cuba thought to emanate from this community...
people of the carabalí as well as their style of music and their percussion instrument
Percussion instrument
A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
s.
Luciano "Chano" Pozo, conga drummer for Dizzy Gillespie
Dizzy Gillespie
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise".Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz...
, was a member of the Abakwa secret society .
Abakuá Afro-Latin Dance Company, a dance company based out of New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, draws its namesake
Namesake
Namesake is a term used to characterize a person, place, thing, quality, action, state, or idea that has the same, or a similar, name to another....
from this origin. The purpose for selecting this name, was in order to recognize the company's link to the origins of the type of music the company performs to. The company does not claim to be an authentic representation of the specific style native to Abakuá but rather an amalgamation of movements native to Afro-Cuban/Caribbean culture and the development of the company's own unique style entitled Afro-Latin Funk. The selection of the name "Afro-Latin" was done in order to identify the company's presence within Latin and Hispanic culture as a whole. Frankie Martinez is the Artistic Director for the dance company.