Nationalizing Candombe

"The order came down on 1 December 1978: the Medio Mundo conventillo, built in 1885 and in 1975 declared a National Historical Monument, had been condemned and was to be evacuated immediately. Municipal trucks came four days later, on 5 December, to remove the 170 residents..." (Andrews, Blackness in the White Nation, 2010: 141).

December 3, 1978: marks the final time the drums would sound at the Medio Mundo conventillo...

"Los vecinos, espontáneamente, para ahogar su frustración y su rabia, salieron a la calle con sus tamboriles y, sin mediear palabra, sus manos comenzaron a golpear la lonja con toda la fuerza de su deseperacion."

"In an effort to suppress their frustration and rage, the residents took to the street with their drums, and without words, their hands began to strike the heads with all the force of their desperation" (Chirimini/Varese, Los candombes de reyes:Las llamadas, 2009: 143).

December 3, 2006: marks the first Día Nacional de Candombe, la Cultura Afrouruguaya, y la Equidad Racial...

"Nuestra iniciativa busca contribuir a superar esa situación, promoviendo el reconocimiento, la valoración y difusión del aporte afrouruguayo a la construcción del país y a su cultura, destacando el candombe como su máxima expresión."

"Our iniciative seeks to overcome that situation, promoting the recognition, values, and difusion of Afro-Uruguayan support in the construction of the country and its culture, highlighting candombe as its greatest expression" (Ortuño, Día nacional de candombe, 2007: 9). 

Tomorrow brings with it the 6th Annual Día Nacional de Candombe. I've thought a great deal about that moment in 1978, as well as the farewell "party" that took place at the Ansina housing projects in early January 1980. Nothing in my life has prepared me to understand what those communities experienced, and I can't imagine how it must have felt to hear the drums and dance on those nights...

I'm not sure how I feel about a National Day of Candombe at this point. A lot's changed since my first night following Sinfonia de Ansina in barrio Palermo in August. After the Prueba de Admisión para Las Llamadas, the politics of the carnival machine have diminished the impact. I believe candombe could be a vehicle for equality, but the local prejudices are perhaps too great to overcome. At the national level, on paper, the concept is appealing, but once you scratch the surface...well, the conflicts exist on virtually every level.