Manuela Arciniegas

Manuela Arciniegas is a drummer, songwriter, singer and dancer specializing in Afro-Dominican and Afro-Puerto Rican traditional music. She graduated from Harvard in 2001 and has been working in education, cultural arts and community organizing, and philanthropy since then. Manuela has performed and
taught Afro-Puerto Rican and Afro-Dominican music with various troupes around NYC, including Legacy Women, Alma Moyo, La 21 Division, Kumba Carey, Grupo Kalunga Neg Mawon, Nchila Ngma, and William Cepeda’s Afro-Boricua. She is the recipient of the 2008 Urban Artist Initiative and the founder of The Legacy
Women, an all women’s Afro Caribbean drum and dance troupe. Manuela is currently pursuing a PhD in Ethnomusicology at the CUNY Graduate Center.