Calling the Ancestors to Dance

The Abakuá are an all-male ceremonial association founded in Cuba in the 1830s which persist to this day as exponents of a form of Afrocuban folklore. Legally recognized on the island for the first time in 2005, the Abakuá community has asse…

Street Rhythms and the Revolution

Cuban street vendors use pregones, high-pitched rhymes and rhythms, to promote their goods and services. This ambulant form of small-scale commerce has been part of the urban soundscape since the early years of Spanish colonization. While of…