Black Improvement Media (BIM) is a multimedia resource for the Black Improvement Movement. This blog is served by Seko Varner. On this site you may find media programming that support our mission of improving the lives of people of African descent. The views expressed in the media presented on this site are not necessarily the views and opinions of Seko Varner or Positive Vibes Inc.
Louis Chude Sokei @ Riddim Reggae Talk 9/10/2009 presents his lecture regarding the influences of Reggae music upon the later Black Pride Movement and the concept of the African diaspora from the Outside of Africa and the Inside of Africa points.
If you are receiving this correspondence via email and are not able to view the accompanying video please visit http://www.blackimprovementmedia.blogspot.com to watch the video described in the above text. The views expressed in the media presented on this site are not necessarily the views and opinions of the Imani Foundation, our members, staff, or sponsors. Find us on FACEBOOK under the name "The Black Improvement Movement". Subscribe to our posts by emailing imanifoundation-subscribe@yahoogroups.com .
If you are receiving this correspondence via email and are not able to view the accompanying video please visit http://www.blackimprovementmedia.blogspot.com/ to watch the video described in the above text or visit the direct link to the video of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bUMS_A8awY&feature=player_embedded . The views expressed in the media presented on this site are not necessarily the views and opinions of the Imani Foundation, our members, staff, or sponsors. Find us on FACEBOOK under the name "The Black Improvement Movement". Subscribe to our posts by emailing imanifoundation-subscribe@yahoogroups.com .
Cuba, the origin of the Salsa movement is back with a lot of fire. The documentary about Afro-Cuban culture. How it started, how it is conserved and how it is lived today.
Rumba celebrates life through singing, dancing and drumming. It is a "festival of sound and movement" created through the unison of different cultures, traditions and art forms. It is a mirror that reflects the social, political, religious, and economic conditions surrounding those who create, play, and dance rumba. Rumba evolved from many different musical influences, emerging as a mixture of Afro-Cuban traditions and a diverse, rapidly changing, and extremely expressive culture. It has, and continues to have, a dramatic impact on music today, and is especially recognizable in the extremely popular offshoot known as salsa.
There are three main types of rumba that dominate today - yambu, guaguanco, and columbia. Each descended from the ancestral music and dance brought to Cuba from Africa. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you are receiving this correspondence via email and are not able to view the accompanying video please visit http://www.blackimprovementmedia.blogspot.com/ to watch the video described in the above text. The views expressed in the media presented on this site are not necessarily the views and opinions of the Imani Foundation, our members, staff, or sponsors. Find us on FACEBOOK under the name "The Black Improvement Movement". Subscribe to our posts by emailing imanifoundation-subscribe@yahoogroups.com .
This post goes out to Brother Seko of the Imani Foundation who began teaching on this subject (The African presence in the Latino/Hispanic/Chicano) back in the mid 1990s. - Imani
Photo: (Right) Brother Elder Runoko Rashidi with an (Left) Afro-Mexican !
While the spanish where conquering countries througout the Americans they brought free africans over to mexico such as Juan Garrido (born in west african) Even though africans helped the spanish fight battles they were not treated equally beacuse they were african. Afrter the battles many natives had died in mexico, while others faught hard for freedom.In order to produce more labor African Slaves were taken to mexico by the spanish from the coast of Ghana to Angola. Many Africans who were slaves intermarried with natives. Most Afro Mexicans are Zambo (African & Native mixture)
Gasper Yanga was one the greatest leaders in slavery. He was a Gabonese who helped african slaves build palenques to esacape the cruelty of slavery. Francisco de la Matosa who was Angolan also helped right battles against the spanish as they destroyed maroon towns. the battle lasted many years and the spanish was unable to defeat the africans. They decided to sign a treaty in the town of veracruz and today it still remains Yanga town.
Costa Chica has the largest black population in Mexico. While other areas such Veracruz, and Yucatan have a significant black population.
The song ‘La Bamba’, a traditional folk song and dance, was originally a song sung by African slaves in Veracruz as they worked, since many of the enslaves brought to Mexico by the Spaniards, came from Angola and Congo, with the Africans who originated the song hailing from the MBamba peoples of Angola. Bamba is the name of an African tribe in Angola and in Congo, from the Bamba River, where the MBamba peoples lived. As enslaves, they brought their beautiful culture with them, and the original origins of this song, over 500 years ago, and as so very often, with enslaved Africans in the new world, they fought against enslavement, running away and joining up with the indigenous peoples in the rain forests and mountainous areas. The song also refers to a specific incident which occurred in the year 1683, in the Mexican state of Veracruz, when pirates attacked the people, free and enslaved, living there. The Spanish officials of Veracruz mistreated the enslaves so horribly that they rebelled in what was known as the “Bambarria”, an enslave uprising that pitted the African enslaves and Indians against the Spanish. (New Spain as it was called, because at the time, the country we now know as Mexico, did not exist as a nation, until approximately 200 years later, when in 1810, Mexico/New Spain gained its independence from Spain).
LA BAMBA: CANCION DE VERACUZ: “A SONG THAT STARTED IN 1683″: http://www.johntoddjr.com/143%20Bamba/bamba.htm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you are receiving this correspondence via email and are not able to view the accompanying video please visit http://www.blackimprovementmedia.blogspot.com/ to watch the video described in the above text. The views expressed in the media presented on this site are not necessarily the views and opinions of the Imani Foundation, our members, staff, or sponsors. Find us on FACEBOOK under the name "The Black Improvement Movement". Subscribe to our posts by emailing imanifoundation-subscribe@yahoogroups.com .
