Gilberto Gil 'QUILOMBO, O EL DORADO NEGRO'

Someone once said: 'At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that the true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love. It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality... We must strive every day so that this love of living humanity will be transformed into actual deeds, into acts that serve as examples, as a moving force.' from Wikipedia: A quilombo (from the Kimbundu word kilombo) is a Brazilian hinterland settlement founded by people of African origin, Quilombolas, or Maroons. Most of the inhabitants of quilombos were escaped former slaves and, in some cases, a minority of marginalised Portuguese, Brazilian aboriginals, Jews and Arabs, and/or other non-black, non-slave Brazilians that faced oppression during colonization. Some quilombos were near Portuguese settlements and active both in defending against capitães do mato commissioned to recapture slaves and in facilitating the escape of even more slaves. For this reason, they were targets of the Dutch, then Portuguese colonial authorities and, later, of the Brazilian state and slaveowners. Some quilombos that were farther from Portuguese settlements and the later Brazilian cities were tolerated and still exist as towns today. In the Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America, such a settlement is called a palenque and its inhabitants are palenqueros who speak various Spanish-African-based creole languages. Quilombo do Campinho. It is widely believed that the term quilombo establishes a link between Palmares and the culture of central Angola where the majority of slaves were forcibly brought to Brazil, because, during the time of the slave trafficking, natives in central Angola, called Imbangala, had created an institution called a kilombo that united various tribes of diverse lineage into a community designed for military resistance during that time of upheaval. However, the documentation on Palmares typically uses the term mocambo to describe the settlements, and quilombo was not used until the 1670s and then primarily in more southerly parts of Brazil. The most famous quilombo was Palmares, an independent, self-sustaining republic near Recife, established in about 1600. Part of the reason for the massive size of the quilombo at Palmares was because of its location in Brazil, which was at the median point between the Atlantic Ocean and Guinea, an important area of the African slave trade. At its height, Palmares was massive and consisted of several settlements with a combined population of over 30,000 renegades, mostly blacks. Ganga Zumba and Zumbi are the two most well known warrior-leaders of Palmares which, after a history of conflict with, first, Dutch and then Portuguese colonial authorities, finally fell to a Portuguese artillery assault in 1694. In Brazil, both men are honored as heroes and symbols of black pride, freedom and democracy to this day. Zumbi's execution date (as his birthday is unknown), November 20, is acknowledged as National Black Awareness Day, and his image has appeared on postage stamps, banknotes and coins. Existiu um El Dorado Negro no Brasil Existiu como clarão que o sol da liberdade produziu Refletiu a luz da divinidade do fogo santo de Olorum Revivieu a utopia um por todos, e todos por um Quilombo- todos fizeram com todos os santos zelando Quilombo- todos regarem com todas as aguas do pranto Quilombo- todos tiveram de tombar amando e lutando Quilombo- todos nos ainda hoje desejamos tanto Existiu um El Dorado Negro no Brasil Existiu viveu lutou tombou morreu denovo resurgiu Resurgiu pauão de tantas cores carnaval do sonho meu Renasceu, Quilombo agora assim voce e eu Quilombo- todos fizeram com todos os santos zelando Quilombo- todos regarem com todas as aguas do pranto Quilombo- todos tiveram de tombar amando e lutando Quilombo- todos nos ainda hoje desejamos tanto Existiu um El Dorado Negro no Brasil Existiu como clarão que o sol da liberdade produziu Refletiu a luz da divinidade do fogo santo de Olorum Revivieu a utopia um por todos, e todos por um Quilombo- todos fizeram com todos os santos zelando Quilombo- todos regarem com todas as aguas do pranto Quilombo- todos tiveram de tombar amando e lutando Quilombo- todos nos ainda hoje desejamos tanto Existiu um El Dorado Negro no Brasil Existiu viveu lutou tombou morreu denovo resurgiu Resurgiu pauão de tantas cores carnaval do sonho meu Renasceu, Quilombo agora assim voce e eu (Gilberto Gil/ Waly Salomão)