Emesè: Messengers of the African Diaspora is a collective of artists founded in 1998 with a mission to promote and present the rich cultural traditions of the African Diaspora. Emesè is comprised of artists with extensive backgrounds in the history, teaching and preservation of African & African African-derived song, dance, and drum culture as practiced in Cuba, Brazil, Congo, Haiti, Liberia, and the United States. In addition to teaching a weekly dance class in Oakland, CA at the Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts since 2007, members of Emesè participate in educational programs in schools and local organizations, presented professional papers at the International Congress of Orisha Tradition and Culture in Havana, Cuba, have authored papers and books about the topic, and hold positions as lectures in the California State University System and University of Chicago. Working closely with master artists from Cuba, the group participated in the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival in 1999, 2001, 2003 and 2011. Group performances include: Collage de Cultures Africaines, San Francisco Carnaval, Oakland Carijama, Oshun’s Garden, Art and Soul Festival, Black Choreographers Festival , Youth in Arts, Fua dia Congo’s Malaki Matanga and Emesè’s Black World Diaspora Dance and Drum Congress. Emesè’s own mini-length production MOJUBA was presented by La Pena Cultural Center at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and their first full- evening-production, Selected Heads: One Nation Under the Drum was premiered in 1998 in Oakland, CA.