![]() ![]() He fled Spanish colonial slavery with his family, and established Palenque. ![]() Bioho, known as Domingo in the Americas, was said to be an African king who came from the Bioho region of what is today Guinea-Bissau. His hands, the right lifting beyond his body, show where chains were around the wrists. ![]() His power and strength are evident in his posture and expression, rising out of the column that lifts the statue into the air far above human height. The statue is a reminder of the long history of black resistance in Colombia and the liberation achieved by Bioho. We stepped down from our tour bus into the central plaza of the town, dominated by a tall statue of Benkos Bioho, the runaway slave warrior who founded the community. By the time we arrived, we had learned of the social structures, local agriculture, religion, the Bantú-derived Palenquero language and the importance of musical heritage. One of them met us in Cartagena, sharing the history of Palenque with us en route to the town. Our tour, like many tours here, is organized with the close cooperation of community members. It was founded in the early 17th century by enslaved peoples who fled from Cartagena de Indias, one of the largest slave entrepots in Spanish America. I am one such guest, part of a tourist group of professors and scholars of Latin America who are taking an organized tour of Palenque (also called San Basilio de Palenque), said to be the oldest surviving free community established by runaway slaves in the Americas. Smiling, he eagerly awaits guests to whom he will explain the significance of music in his life and the living history that he embodies. He is in the patio of his home, sitting atop his marímbula, a rectangular box instrument with metal keys that he explains came to Palenque from Cuba. Rafael Cassiani Cassiani, one of the town’s most legendary musicians, af rms this strong connection. In this Colombian town, drumming is about communion and connection: with the ancestors, spirit-energies, dancers and singers. The drumbeat is the pulse of Palenque de San Basilio it is central to birth, death, marriage and other celebrations. Benkos Bioho statue in the central square of Palenque de San Basilio, Colombia. ![]()
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