Exuma

The Profile

Exuma was a Bahamian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Cat Island, famed for blending junkanoo and calypso with psychedelic folk and Afro-Caribbean spiritual themes. Active from the 1960s until his death in 1997, he debuted on Mercury with Exuma (1970) and became known as The Obeah Man.

Born on Cat Island, Bahamas; active in New York’s Greenwich Village in the early 1960s; debut album Exuma released by Mercury in 1970; key songs include Exuma, The Obeah Man, Dambala, and Mama Loi, Papa Loi; died in 1997.

Two reviews celebrate Exuma’s unclassifiable blend of junkanoo, folk psychedelia, calypso, and soul, steeped in Obeah and ritual imagery. The debut Exuma (1970) is framed as a visionary, genre-defying statement, with haunting chants and iconic tracks like Dambala and Exuma, The Obeah Man. Exuma II is portrayed as more danceable yet equally steeped in spirits and ceremonies. Overall sentiment: deeply admiring of his singular voice and mythic persona.