As contemporary Tambu music and dance evolved on the Caribbean island of Curacao, it intertwined sacred and secular, private and public cultural practices, and many traditions from Africa and the New World. As she explores the formal contours of Tambu, Nanette de Jong discovers its variegated history and uncovers its multiple and even contradictory origins. De Jong recounts the personal stories and experiences of Afro-Curacaoans as they perform Tambu-some who complain of its violence and low-class attraction and others who champion Tambu as a powerful tool of collective memory as well as a way to imagine the future.