BOGOTÁ, COLOMBIA––Palenque de San Basilio, in the Colombian Caribbean, was one of the regions that received a large number of men, women, and children during Colombia’s more than 250 years of African enslavement.
This situation of depersonalization, which tried to turn enslaved Africans into another mercantile capitalist piece of machinery for exploitation, was thwarted by a forceful leader by the name of Benkos Biohó. Along with 10 other African men and women, Biohó rose up to escape the slave port of Cartagena and found the liberated territory of San Basilio de Palenque in the 17th century.
Biohó’s liberated palenque territory was not uncommon: Throughout the Americas, self-liberated Africans escaped enslavement and created spaces where they could be free. In Brazil, these locations were known as quilombos, and in Venezuela, they were called cumbes.
In this territorial space, Biohó and his compatriots rebuilt a family system that had been deconstructed by slavery. With great determination, these cimarróns—or self-liberated Africans––preserved their spirituality, music, and traditional African food. In 2008, the efforts of these palenqueros to retain their ancestral memory was recognized by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
The residents of Palenque de San Basilio have been able to maintain their linguistic system, called “palanquera speech.” It features words like kimbundo, kongo, and umbundo, which come from the languages of Angola and Congo.
Palenque house in Bogotá
In a sector of the Candelaria neighborhood in Bogotá, we had an exchange with palanquero poets and writers at what’s known as the Casa Palanquero, or Palenquero House.
When we entered the house, there was a palanquero prayer that read: “La itoria ni Palenque ni San Basilio que la Vitoria ni brabura i resistencia ni ma afrikana ima africano i ma resendiente ri and ké a lucha pu suture ané,” which translates to “The history of Palenque de San Basilio is one of rebellion and resistance of the Africans and their descendants who fought for their freedom. In this house, solidarity, the teaching of the palanquera language, and spiritual practices is a point of reference for the palanqueros who migrate to the city of Bogotá.”
Casa Palanquero has coordinated the publication of a new book, “Kutura ri Palenque,” which brings together Afro Palenquero poets, especially the new generation. The poetic verses reflect the love, pain, and justice of these people, who are a bridge to the Caribbean and the mainland.
The text gathers the reflections and essays of Bogotá-based palanqueros, including Neris Isabel Barrios Reyes, Leonor Diaz Cañete, Luis Gerardo Martines Miranda, Aiden Salgado, Alejandro Gonzalez Santa Fe, and Alberto Torres Perez, among others.
The poet and psychologist Barrios Reyes talks about El Kuagaro as the social and political organization of the palanqueros, traditional games, and wakes. Musical chronicler Luis Gerardo Martinez, a scholar of traditional African and contemporary music, looks at the deep roots of African music in palenque.
“Kutura ri Palenque” is an example for the rest of the countries of the African diaspora in America: It shows a way to build collective poetics and essays in the same way that Benkos Biohó dreamed of doing before his death on March 16, 1621.
To contact members of Casa Palenquero and if you have interest in the new book, “Kutura ri Palenque,” use Salgadocaiden@gmail.com.