What is an Abeng?

Welcome to my blog The Abeng and My Conscious Pen. People sometimes ask me "What is an Abeng?" or why I chose to use "abeng" in the title.

Well, an abeng is an animal horn, most often a cow horn. A woman sent me a link to show me that an abeng is really a conch shell, but no, a conch shell can be used as an abeng, but an abeng is not exclusively a conch shell. Abeng is a Twi word of the Akan people. It, the word and the concept, came from the area now known as Ghana on slave ships to Jamaica. When Africans/Akans ran off plantations, boats, or were left by Spaniard slave masters (defeated by the English) and headed for the hills, they carried the abeng in their hearts and minds. These Africans were now Maroons and fought a series of wars against the English to maintain their freedom.

The Maroons sounded the abeng as a means of communicating between Maroon villages. It was like sounding off  "the British are coming, the British are coming."

Because of this, the abeng represents freedom. The Abeng and My Conscious Pen celebrates this symbol.

Teach di youth. Read More
http://consciouspen.blogspot.com/2011/04/abeng.html