I El-Rei have knowledge of you Captain Zumbi of Palmares...

November 19, 2014 9:31 AM

Quilombos are the communities formed by escaped slaves in Brazil.
Probably the most well known of these is Palmares one of whose inhabitants was the legendary leader Zumbi.
posted by adamvasco (7 comments total)

Suddenly a handful of Soulfly songs have a lot more context. *goes back to reading*
posted by Dark Messiah at 9:32 AM on November 19, 2014 [1 favorite]

( wow. How the fuck did that happen. Posted x 4 )
posted by adamvasco at 9:35 AM on November 19, 2014 [1 favorite]

Double, but I think this one should stay. Much better links.
posted by Navelgazer at 9:35 AM on November 19, 2014 [2 favorites]

Sorted Thx. mods
posted by adamvasco at 9:35 AM on November 19, 2014

Sound track for this post by Gilberto Gil:
♫ Existiu
Um eldorado negro no Brasil .... ♫


There's also a film.
posted by benito.strauss at 9:59 AM on November 19, 2014 [1 favorite]

For some reason I always assumed it was a nonsense word... (fun fact: track 4 is where the Venture Brothers theme comes from)
posted by neckro23 at 11:09 AM on November 19, 2014

There is a program in Northeast Brazil called remanescentes de quilombo or quilombo remnants that provides special designations for Afro-Brazilians on land thought to be where past quilombos used to be, not unlike similar FUNAI designations for indigenous people. That region of Brazil is so culturally and racially mixed that many people are of both African and indigenous descent. There is a community in the state of Sergipe where one side identifies as indigenous and the other as Afro-Brazilian, even though the families there are intertwined. Jan Hoffman French has a great book on it. In a presentation I saw, she described talking to one family with a house on the border, and they would joke that if they went into the living room they were indigenous, but if they stayed in the kitchen they were Afro-Brazilian.

It is also interesting to note that in Argentina, the word is slang that takes the European colonists' side of the story. Quilombo there means not "revered place of cultural resistance" but rather "a big mess."
posted by umbú at 1:06 PM on November 19, 2014 [1 favorite]