Aqualtune Collective

among rhythms, drums and memories in the city of Campos dos Goytacazes

Abstract

This article is about the history of the Aqualtune collective, founded in the city of Campos dos Goytacazes. This project begins in 2023 and seeks, through music, relying on teaching, research and extension, to bring a political recovery of the African ancestry in Brazil that, since the forced African diaspora, has been suffering erasure. A central part of this recovery is the mapping of some cultural crossings that are produced in the experience of the diaspora and that resonate in our life to this day. The collective has on its bases anti-racist and counter-colonial ethics, seeking political action in the city's territory using African matrix rhythms, fused with indigenous influences and popular European rhythms. So, the collective work as a space of reception and production, converging from the perspective of aquilombamento, which is understood as a process of empowerment and self-affirmation for black people. Furthermore, the article introduces the collective through the experience of its members, from the powerful ways of living and producing together, to the hardships and difficulties of composing an anti-hegemonic resistance movement.