Brikamo - rhythm
Brikamo is a ritual rhythm of the Abakuá secret society — the most distinctly Cuban of all the African-derived religious and fraternal orders that took root on the island. Unlike the more widely known Yoruba-derived Lucumí (Santería/Ocha) traditions, Abakuá is a Cuban creation with no living counterpart in Africa, built from the memory of Cross River traditions and transformed entirely in the Cuban context.
What Is Abakuá?
The Abakuá (also written Ñáñigo in older sources, though the term is considered pejorative by practitioners) is a fraternal secret society founded in Regla, a port town across the bay from Havana, in 1836. Its founders were enslaved Africans from the Cross River region — present-day southeastern Nigeria and southwestern Cameroon — primarily from the Efik, Efut, and Ekoi peoples. In Africa, the original society was known as Ekpe (Leopard Society), a powerful institution that regulated trade, enforced social order, and controlled esoteric knowledge.
In Cuba, Abakuá became something new: a mutual aid fraternity open to both Black and white men (after a historic initiation in 1863), organized into juegos (lodges) in the port cities of Havana, Regla, Matanzas, and Cárdenas. Membership provided protection, solidarity, and a rich ceremonial life at a time when free Black and enslaved people had few other institutions to turn to.
The society is organized around the myth of Sikán, a princess who accidentally discovered the sacred fish Tanze — the embodiment of divine voice — and whose sacrifice became the foundation of Abakuá ritual. The ceremonies re-enact this founding myth through music, drumming, and the dances of the íremes (masked sacred figures).
The Brikamo Rhythm
Brikamo is one of the several ritual toques (rhythmic patterns) played in Abakuá ceremonies. It is performed during specific moments in the liturgical sequence and carries a direct spiritual charge — it is not entertainment but a means of communication with the founding ancestors and divine forces of the Abakuá cosmos.
The Ekón (Bell)
The most distinctive sonic element of Abakuá music — and of Brikamo specifically — is the ekón, a boat-shaped iron bell struck with a metal rod. The ekón plays a fixed, repeating timeline pattern that functions similarly to the clave in secular Cuban music: it is the rhythmic reference point around which all other instruments orient themselves.
The ekón's pattern in Brikamo is rapid and insistent, creating a shimmering, metallic pulse. Experienced listeners can identify which toque is being played by the ekón pattern alone.
The Bonkó Drums
The primary drums in Abakuá ritual are the bonkó enchemiyá — a set of two-headed cylindrical drums of varying sizes. In Brikamo, the bonkó drums carry the main rhythmic dialogue:
- The lead bonkó improvises over the fixed patterns, responding to the movements of the íremes and the progress of the ceremony.
- The supporting drums maintain the interlocking rhythmic bed.
The ensemble also includes erikundi (small rattles attached to the drums) and seseribó (gourd rattles), creating a dense, layered texture.
The Íremes (Masked Dancers)
The most visually dramatic element of Abakuá ceremony is the íreme (plural: íremes), also called diablitos ("little devils") in Cuban popular speech. Íremes are masked, costumed figures who embody specific sacred forces in the Abakuá cosmology. Their costumes — elaborate patchwork suits covering the entire body, with pointed hoods — are among the most recognizable images in Cuban visual culture.
The íremes do not dance in the social sense; they move in prescribed patterns that enact specific mythological roles. Their gestures are a sacred language. The Brikamo rhythm activates specific ireme movements, and the relationship between drum pattern and ireme choreography is tightly codified.
Images of íremes appear throughout Cuban popular art, carnival traditions, and even in commercial iconography — a testament to how deeply Abakuá aesthetics have penetrated Cuban culture at large.
Brikamo's Influence on Secular Music
The most direct connection between Brikamo and Cuban popular music runs through Rumba Columbia.
Rumba Columbia is the most technically demanding and athletically spectacular of the three rumba forms ( Yambú, Guaguancó, Columbia). It is danced solo by men and features acrobatic movements, improvisation, and a competitive display of agility and rhythm. Columbia originated in the Matanzas province — the same region where Abakuá was strong — and its choreographic vocabulary directly references Abakuá sacred movements, particularly those of the íremes.
The rhythmic density and the role of the lead conga (quinto) in Rumba Columbia also echo the improvisational dialogue between lead drum and other instruments found in Abakuá ceremonies like Brikamo.
More broadly, the Abakuá musical concept of a fixed timeline (ekón) over which improvisation happens is structurally identical to the role of the clave in Cuban popular music. The two systems reinforce each other, and Cuban musicians who know both hear them as expressions of the same underlying logic.
Abakuá in Cuban Culture
Despite being a secret society with restricted membership (men only, by initiation), Abakuá's influence on Cuban culture is pervasive:
- The concept of asere (a term of Abakuá origin) became the most common informal greeting in Cuban street speech.
- Abakuá fraternal values — loyalty, protection of members, solidarity — were absorbed into the code of the Havana working-class neighborhoods (solares, barrios).
- The ireme image is reproduced in carnival, in religious art, and in Cuban graphic design.
- Musicians from Cuba's major popular genres — Son, Rumba, Timba — have frequently been Abakuá members, and the society's rhythmic knowledge filtered into every Cuban music tradition.
