Release Date: 27 September 2024
Label: Free Dirt Records
Packaging Type: Digipak
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 877746012129
Genres: World Music Africa
Description
Our Ancestors Swam to Shore showcases the rarely heard music of Angolar Creole (N'gola) speakers from the African islands of Sao Tome and Principe. Many of the five thousand residents are descendants of escaped Angolan slaves, who, as their folklore tells, swam to shore after a shipwreck off the coast. "Gola" has historically been used as a slur on Sao Tome and its speakers are widely regarded as the lowest class; today, most work as fishermen. Our Ancestors Swam to Shorewas produced by GRAMMY-winner Ian Brennan and Italian-Rwandan filmmaker/photographer Marilena Umuhoza Dellias, as a companion to Ancestor Sounds,a collection of field recordings by the descendants of formerly enslaved people of Africatown, Alabama. The N'gola musicians of Sao Tome repurpose common items, including canoes and fishing gear, as instruments. OnOur Ancestors Swam to Shore, the power of music goes beyond melody, harmony, and instrumentation and acts as a transcendent force to tell a people's history with a nod toward the future.
Tracklisting
Kaia Kater
Leon Rosselson
Cinder Well
Jake Blount
Mama's Broke
Allison De Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves
Vivian Leva & Riley Calcagno
Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard
Kanazoe, Clotilde Rullaud, Abdoulaye Traore, Boubacar Djiga & Achille Nacoulma
Osibisa
K.O.G
Seckou Keita
Vis-A-Vis
N'gola (Sao Tome)
Dobet Gnahore
Madala Kunene
