Drumming for the gods: the life and times of Felipe García Villamil, santero, palero, and abakuá

Drumming for the Gods
	Contents
	Acknowledgments
	A Note on Spelling
	Prologue
	PART ONE: Learning the Trade
		Background
		Entrance into the Afro-Cuban Religious World
		Overview
		Entering Felipe’s House
		Santeria: The Lucumi Door
		Palo Monte: The Congo Door
		The Abakuá Society: A Secret Passage from Calabar
		Early Musical Experiences
		Learning to Play Bata
		History of the Drums
			Other Bata Lineages in Matanzas
			Other Drumming Traditions in Matanzas
	PART TWO: Life as a Musician during the Revolution
		Making Ends Meet
		Becoming a “Cultural Worker”
		Performing Afro-Cuban Religious Music in Secular Public Contexts
		Amateur Groups
		Organizing a Professional Folkloric Ensemble
		Negotiating the Limits of Secrecy
		Performing Other Afro-Cuban Secular and Sacred Drumming Styles
		Performing Afro-Cuban Religious Music in Private Ritual Contexts
		Searching for Alternatives: Becoming a Craftsman of Religious Objects
		Crafting a Bembé Drum: “Manufacturing” Material Culture to Obey the Orichas
	PHOTOGRAPHS
	PART THREE: Life as a Diasporic Musician
		Leaving Cuba
		Building the Present: Exercising His Trade in His New Home
		The Tools of the Trade
			Instruments as Immigrants: Añá Crosses the Ocean
			Applying “Cultural Memory”: Making Instruments
				Batá Drums
				Bembé Drums
				Iyesa Drums
		Drums as an Extension of the Self, as a Source of Living, as Life Itself
		The Artisan Transformed into an Artist
		Felipe’s “There” Faces His “Here”
			Felipe’s Concept of Tradition
			Syncretism
			The Marielitos
			“The Orichas Behave Different Here”
			Confronting the Written
		The Struggle of Memory over Forgetting
			Teaching as a Way of Remembering
			Teaching Women to Play Bata
			Singing as a Way of Remembering
	Epilogue
	Notes
	Bibliography
	Glossary
	Index