Cacique Guarionex Remembered

  El cacique Guariones
 defendió con patriotismo,
 luchando con heroísmo
aunque falleció más tarde.
Borinquen vencida es
decía con aflicción
y con desesperación;
clamó nobles traidores
no caben vuestras labores
del árbol del corazón.

The final part of a décima from Puerto Rico referring to a cacique named Guarionex and his resistance to the Spanish conquest. Unfortunately, J. Alden Mason and Aurelio M. Espinosa did not name the composer in their "Porto-Rican Folk-Lore. Décimas, Christmas Carols, Nursery Rhymes, and Other Songs."

Bei Mir Bist Du Schön

Alice Coltrane showing her more advanced style in this recording date with Terry Gibbs. Although we don't usually associate Alice Coltrane with Jewish music, she's one of the best things about session from her days in the group of Terry Gibbs. It helps that we've long enjoyed "Bei Mir Bist Du Schön" ever since hearing it in an episode of The X-Files several years ago...

Favorite Pictures from Le vodou fon dans le Royaume d'Allada

  

Although the quality of the images and the binding of the book made it difficult to use or interpret all the photos in Le vodou fon dans le Royaume d'Allada (Bas-Dahomey): ses images et ses symboles, we had some favorites from the bunch. A very short book comprised of photographs by Montilus and short captions describing them, all centered on Fon Vodou in Allada, there are some striking images. Some depict animal sacrifice, temples, various types of priests or priestesses, hunsi and sacred drums, or people tied to the Allada court. Unsurprisingly, the priests affiliated with royal cults seem to have the finest and most elaborate styles of dress.

The "traditional king" of Allada even appears in one photo. Presumably this is a Adjahuto, descendants of a figure appointed by the king of Dahomey after the Dahomian conquest of Allada in the 1720s.

One photo that was partly cut off by the binding showed a vast crowed gathered for a prayer by a temple associated with the kings of Allada. 

Some of the photos of Vodou temples were grainy, but this one is quite clear. It appears to lack any figurative paintings but the different patterns on the exterior wall presumably have some meaning not explained by Montilus.

The dokpe of Allada are sort of our like cumbite but in the Fon context also involved in burials or funeral services.

A bokono is also included. In the Fon context, they are specialists in Fa or Ifa divination. We still consider it intriguing that this sense of the word has been lost in Haiti and boko became a term for sorcerers.

Unfortunately, Montilus did not provide much detail on the Allada king's traditional court and their role in the ancestral cults. 

Kingdom of Allada Timeline

The following are some general dates for the history of Allada, ending with its conquest by Dahomey in the 1720s. The dates are all drawn from Robin Law's The Kingdom of Allada and The Slave Coast of West Africa, 1550-1750: The Impact of the Atlantic Slave Trade on an African Society. Researching the history of Allada is quite difficult, although we have scarcely scratched the surface. Jacques Lombard and Robin Law are good to start with, but from consulting their sources and references to oral traditions, much of Allada's early history is difficult to reconstruct.

c. 1485: map of Pedro Reinel shows Allada

1540/1 (or 1551/52): Allada ambassador to Portugal, Dom Adȃo. Allada king interested in trade and Christianity

1539: Portuguese report on Benin mentions kingdom of Allada's ambassadors mistreated by the oba

1553: Portuguese attempt to trade at Popo

mid-1560s: appearance of "Arara" captives among African slaves in Peru

1570: Allada marked on Portuguese maps

1591: James Welsh destroyed a Portuguese ship anchored at Allada

1602: Account of Pieter de Marees published

1607: Portuguese source estimated value of trade at Allada as 800,000 reis

c.1610: Kokpon king of Allada (Lombard's reckoning)

1620: Report mentions Allada, as well as Benin, Ijebu, and Calabar as "friends" of Portugal. One or two ships were sent annually from Sao Tome to trade at Allada for slaves, yams, palm oil, ivory and cotton cloth.

1622: Dutch ship came to Allada, but didn't stay to trade.

1627: Alonso de Sandoval's work mentioning Allada traditions published

1639: Dutch West India Company establish a factory in Allada

1646/47: Dutch bring an Allada native to the Gold Coast to train as an interpreter. The man dies.

1647: Dutch WIC in negotiations with Allada king over his debts to the company

1653/54: English ship purchased 170 slaves at Allada

1657: Bans, or Vans, arrived in Cartagena as ambassador of the king of Allada, 

1658: Publication in Madrid of a catechism in the language of Allada

1659: One source claims Allada was subject to or a vassal of Benin

1659/60: WIC establish a lodge in Allada once again

1660/61: Capuchin mission to Allada

1663: English company, Company of the Royal Adventurers of England Trading into Africa, established a factory in Allada

1664: An English letter addressed to the king of Allada, but never arrives

1668: Publication of Dapper's account

1670: Allada sends Mateo Lopes to France as its ambassador

1671: French factory transferred from Offra to Whydah; Allada and Benin reportedly at war

1672: Publication of Joseph de Naxara work alluding to Allada

1679: Trade in Allada disrupted by war (possibly Offra rebellion)

1680: Contact between Allada and Gold Coast disrupted by "Lampi Black" bandits, led by Aban

1682: Report mentions imports of cloth in Ape from Benin (or Lagos area)

1688: One account claims Allada's rule extended further west, once encompassing Great and Little Popo and Whydah

1690s: Dutch account on Benin kingdom refers to use of Allada women to brew maize beer there

1692: Destruction of Offrah by Allada (through the use of foreign mercenaries)

1694: "King Tom" of Allada was exiled and living in Whydah, banished for alleged crimes

1698: Oyo war with Allada after subjects of the latter appealed to Oyo (due to misgovernment by viceroys of Allada)

1703: Dutch WIC moved factory to Whydah

1704: Publication of Bosman's work

1705: Allada trade embargo on Whydah 

1709: Allada blocked trade to Whydah

1714: Allada king tried to redirect slave trade through Jakin instead of Whydah

1715: Apa's ruler said to be too far to be compelled to obey Allada

1716: Report suggests Dahomey was former vassal of Allada

1717: Death of Allada king reported

1718: King of Allada forced an English captain to buy 20 slaves of his

1722: Hussar in alliance with Agaja of Dahomey; king of Allada, claiming the English were indebted to him, made Bulfinch Lambe a prisoner

1724: Dahomey's conquest of Allada; King Sozo said to have raised 50,000 troops to face Dahomey

1726: Hussah of Allada said in one source to have solicited the Oyo invasion of Dahomey in his bid to regain Allada

1730: Agaja of Dahomey settled in Allada, but at new site near Togudo

1743: Tegbesu moved Dahomey capital back to Abomey from Allada

King Porter Stomp (Gil Evans)

For Jelly Roll Morton, Fletcher Henderson, Benny Goodman. These cats effectively 'modernized' the classic stomp for the 1950s. Cannonball Adderley really carries it. 

The Ark

Overall, The Ark by Haruo Yuki is both fun and successful as a murder mystery. Set in an underground "ark" apparently used by a cult (with some nefarious purpose possibly predating this), the novel features a group of ten trapped underground after an earthquake. Someone then proceeds to kill three members of the group. In terms of the actual mystery behind the murders, there is a great twist at the end which truly changes the meaning of some of the earlier chapters. Nonetheless, we were able to guess the identity of the killer after the third victim's discovery. The novel's genius lies in its clever twist and reminding readers of the importance of understanding motive to solve a mystery. This novel's wannabe sleuth, Shotaro, the cousin of the narrator, builds a consistent logical chain of reasoning to identify the killer, but falls short on establishing a fully convincing motive for all three killings. Unsurprisingly, this will have terrible consequences by the conclusion of the novel. But along the way, the reader is treated by a suspenseful tale of murder and disaster as a group of university friends and the family that joins them turn on each other before the "ark" is completely flooded. One only wishes the novel explored more fully the background of the structure, only hinted at here or there with the appearance of torture instruments and cults. The old friends from their university days are also not fully developed here, but enough exists to establish the air of hostility between one character and the the narrator. 

Tula Ndivile

Going down the rabbit hole of jazz in the 1960s and 1970s led us to Johnny Dyani, which of course led back to Miriam Makeba. There's something so majestic and uplifting about her singing in these early South African vocal groups, like the Manhattan Brothers. I also recall shocking a South African person when, back in the day, I could sing some of these tunes.