Abakuá Afro-Cuban – Dance
Abakuá is an Afro-Cuban secret society of men. It arose around 1820 among enslaved people from Calabar (the Carabalí, in present-day Nigeria); from 1836 the potencias spread across Cuba from Regla. Its ceremonies, drums and masked íreme dancers have strongly influenced Cuban music, especially rumba.
The society
- Origin: Abakuá derives largely from the Ékpè society of the Ejagham and Efik of the Cross River region (south-eastern Nigeria and south-western Cameroon). In the British Caribbean colonies its members were called "leopard men"; the word ekwe means "leopard".
- Men only: according to EcuRed only heterosexual men are admitted. Members are called abakuás or ñáñigos.
- Potencias: there are 123 potencias or juegos across Cuba, with temples in Havana and Matanzas.
- The íreme: the íreme or diablito is the masked dancer who represents the ancestors; see Íreme.
- The voice of the ekué: the society's sacred sound is the voice of the ekué drum.
Influence on music and language
- Rumba: according to Wikipedia, rumba draws among other things on Abakuá traditions. The columbia arose in and around Unión de Reyes (Matanzas), in places controlled by Abakuá potencias.
- Clave: the triple-pulse rumba clave heard in the columbia goes back to the part of the Abakuá iron bell ekón.
- Popular music: researchers find Abakuá influence in nearly every genre of Cuban popular music. See also the brikamo rhythm.
- Language: the street word asere ("mate", as in ¿Qué bola, asere?) comes from an Abakuá greeting and became common in the late 1980s.