The descendants of the Yoruba people of Nigeria continue to preserve their connection to their ancestral traditions and art forms through ritual song, dance, and drumming. The nuances of these traditional elements are available only to those initiated, allowing for a robust spiritual knowledge and deeper understanding of the religious…
As a grantee of ACTA’s Living Cultures Grants Program in 2015, DelinaDreamProductions will receive support for the documentary Bare Soles Bare Soul. Bare Soles Bare Soul will explore the sociocultural experience of eight African American women who have studied and practiced various traditional African dance styles…
Gospel music was birthed in America as a natural derivative of African American history. African Americans sign what they live. As slaves, they sang a slave song. As freedom fighters, they sang a song of deliverance. As freedom marchers, they sang a song of victory. Today, African Americans sing Gospel…
Based in San Diego, United Women of East Africa Support Team (UWEAST) was founded to be a pipeline of culturally competent health services, education, and advocacy for the improvement of East African women and their families’ health and well being. Several years ago, a group of East…
West African Dance is the cultural, social, spiritual, and moral expression of African people. It is how values are expressedfor various life events including birth (naming ceremonies), growth and maturity (rites of passage), love and family (marriage rituals), social events, and death. African dance holds these traditions that are near…
Colombia’s Caribbean coast is host to a plethora of rhythms and musical styles. Many fall under the umbrella of cumbia, which is but one of a number of styles. In this region, the most commonly used instruments are the alegre, llamador, tambora, maracón, guacho, and gaita. Together, they represent the…
Ginga Arts is a nonprofit organization based in Los Angeles that emowers underserved and at-risk youth by offering ongoing classes featuring the traditional Afro-Brazilian martial art of capoeira. Ginga Arts uses capoeria — part martial arts, part dance, part percussion, and part game — as an…
West African Traditional Djembe and Dunun
Fua Dia Congo, founded in 1977, is guided by a Kikongo proverb, Wa Dia Fua Yika Dio, meaning “What you inherit, you must add value to.” For forty years the organization has been resolute in its dedication to preserving and presenting the music, dance, cultural arts…
San Diego-based Tekura Jegnas supports the preservation and continuation of African American martial arts traditions in Southern California. Master artist Dennis Newsome started Tekura Jegnas in 1975, naming his organization in the Ethiopian Amharic language–tekura jegnas means “Black hero/warrior”–out of respect for his African teachers and in…
