N’golá (São Tomé) - Our Ancestors Swam to Shore CD

Our Ancestors Swam to Shore showcases the rarely heard music of Angolar Creole (N’golá) speakers from the African islands of São Tomé and Príncipe. Many of the five thousand residents are descendants of escaped Angolan slaves, who, as their folklore tells, swam to shore after a shipwreck off the coast. “Gola” has historically been used as a slur on São Tomé and its speakers are widely regarded as the lowest class; today, most work as fishermen. Our Ancestors Swam to Shore was produced by GRAMMY-winner Ian Brennan and Italian-Rwandan filmmaker/photographer Marilena Umuhoza Dellias, as a companion to Ancestor Sounds, a collection of field recordings by the descendants of formerly enslaved people of Africatown, Alabama. The N’golá musicians of São Tomé repurpose common items, including canoes and fishing gear, as instruments. On Our Ancestors Swam to Shore, the power of music goes beyond melody, harmony, and instrumentation and acts as a transcendent force to tell a people's history with a nod toward the future.

This album is a co-release with Free Dirt.

TrackList:

 1.  We Have Come Here to Be Known
 2.  Spoiled Food
 3.  We Ran Out of Petrol at Sea & Lost Everything
 4.  If Everyone Was as Kind as Alise, The World Would Be a Better Place
 5.  Went Out to Sea & Forgot My Fishing Nets
 6.  I Will Take My Machete & Defend My Village
 7.  Women Today Drink More than the Men
 8.  I Can Overcome Any Enemy
 9.  Money Stolen From a Child
10. Elder’s Advice
11. Sister, Are You With My Husband? (You Can Have Him)
12. I Raise My Head to See the Sky
13. Mezanu, Your Man Just Wants to Bring You Down