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Melvis Santa is a female African Cuban pianist and vocalist who moved from Havana to New York City in 2014 where she runs a studio program called Afro-Cuban Voice Therapy (ACVT). She combines elements of Santería song, dance, and sacred stories, her formal classical training at the Cuban conservatory in piano and voice, and elements of neo-spiritual movements increasingly common in the United States like kinesthetic and vocalization exercises drawn from Yoga and Hinduism. Collectively, these activities and approaches coalesce in a learning environment and community that encourages healing, sharing, self-care, and wellness through the lens of Santería spirituality, but not necessarily Santería religion which includes rituals and rites unique to religious space and practice. Santa uses Santería music and healing to negotiate musical authority by centering herself in a community that is dependent upon (1) the interconnected relationships of òrìṣà, community, and individual, (2) the related harmony and balance of spiritual energies, and (3) the transfer of ashe (divine energy or life force). Relying on the ethnographic study of her musical activities within the broader context of Santería, I examine her perspective about healing and exercise of power. I argue that hers is a performative negotiation of the exercise of generational and gendered power that challenges the social norms that have long privileged elder men. Her musical expressions, movements, and verbal performances serve to reclaim the matriarchal dynamic that existed in early twentieth-century Cuba when women maintained powerful lead roles at the center of religious communities.

Dr. Cupec holds a BM degree (music education) from West Virginia University, MM degree (percussion performance) from Northern Illinois University and PhD (ethnomusicology) from the University of Colorado - Boulder. His research interests include new African musical diasporas, race and ethnicity, music and migration, music in religious experience, Caribbean and Latin American musics, transnationalism and transculturation and digital storytelling. He has presented and published widely including the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, the College Music Society, the International Council for Traditional Music (Portugal), and the Society for Ethnomusicology National Conference. As a performing musician, he has directed Latin American music ensembles, Latin jazz ensembles, African music ensembles and has facilitated interactive and interdisciplinary guest residencies. Currently an instructor at Metropolitan State University of Denver (2022+), Dr. Cupec formerly taught through the continuing education program at UC-Boulder and Arapahoe Community College. Zane invites you to visit him at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival (June 29-July 9) this summer on the National Mall in Washington D.C. where he will be participating as a Presenter.