right to land, right to party
Contributor
Sonic Resonance
How to listen to the mixtape ‘right to land, right to party’:
Two themes are very present in my research: the right to land—to live with dignity—and the right to party—to live with lightness. A great excuse to give sound to these thoughts is the mixtape direito à terra, direito à festa, created in January 2024,1 in which I was able to take a journey—both real and imaginary—through promised, dominated, reclaimed, dense, and festive territories, through reggae, jazz, experimental, and soul.
“We have the right to territory, to land. Various parts of my history tell that I have the right to the space I occupy in the nation. And that’s what Palmares2 was saying at that moment: I have the right to the space I occupy within this system, within the nation, within this geographic boundary.”3 With this phrase, Beatriz Nascimento opens the first part of the mixtape and anticipates the urgency of land as a foundation. Her voice echoes the historical struggle for belonging and autonomy, reminding us that, from the perspective of the Black experience in Brazil, we have the right to belong to this or to any land.
The relationship between these two themes is complex and full of nuances, depending on each specific context, historical background, and challenges. However, one thing is certain: land and party are two presence-claims of Black life, whether in the diaspora or in Africa. Owning land, especially for those to whom it was previously denied, can be a powerful source of joy. It represents security, independence, and the ability to build a life, a community, or a legacy on one’s own terms. Similarly, being able to celebrate means keeping the spiritual connection alive. Partying implies joy, rest, gathering, and revolution, as it is where ideas come together and multiply freely through space.
“Sometimes I think that every black like me just wants a piece of land in the countryside, their own, with no luxury, barefoot, swimming in a stream, without hunger, picking fruit straight from the branch,”4 sings Racionais MC’s at the opening of the second part of the mixtape. Party also comes from the ability to rejoice in life’s ordinary moments and what the land provides. That’s why I’m so interested in diggin’ through radical observations in the city, in the streets, in emancipatory dreams, and in the revolutionary practices of thinkers—to create and analyze polyphonic spatial histories.5
“Joy carries everything”, the voice that closes this sonic journey warns us. So stay alert, because if you listen about joy, a revolution is to come,6 the opposite is also true. The curation of this mixtape is based on facts and stimuli from different languages and sources—from conversations with friends to readings, exhibitions, and personal productions carried out between 2022 and 2023. These two hours of selection reveal my desire to remind us that we have never stopped fighting, but we must never forget the vital vibration that sustains us through celebration.
To fight and to party, to celebrate while fighting! Above all, I wish that land may never be taken from us again, so that our lives may hover joyfully and dance freely upon it.
Tracklist
Beatriz Nascimento - -Orí
Promise Land - -Dennis Brown
Hugh Mundell - -Going Places
Keen Booth - -Freedom Street
Marku Ribas - -Barrankeiro
Jimi Tenor & Kabu Kabu - -Mystery Spot
Tony Allen - -Never (Lagos Never Gonna Be The Same)
Racionais Mc’s - -Vida Loka, pt. 2
Gil Scott Heron - -Inner City blues
Luiz melodia - -Subi o Morro
Jorge Ben - -Minha Estrela é do Oriente
Tim Maia - -Hadock Lobo
Stevie Wonder - -Living for the City
Mauricio Paz - -Negro Movimento
Tânia Maria - -Pingas da Vida
Thandi Ntuli - -Rainbow Revisited
Wilson Simonal - -Quem Mandou
Yussef Days - -Birds of Paradise
Sault - -Warrior
Theo Parrish - -Free Myself
aja monet - -black joy
Cedric Brooks & the Mystic Revelation of Rastafari - -Song For South Africa
Gilberto Gil - -Patuscada de Gandhi
Bantu Spaceship - -Missava the Arrival
Djalma Correa - -Banjilografo
Tony Allen - -Celebrate
Jantra - -Gedima
Música das coisas, dos bichos e dos vegetais - -Marimbondo
Maria Luiza de Barros Rodrigues7
- Mixtape released by the Rio Doce show in January 2024, broadcast monthly on the radio station NTS. Conceived by photographer and artist Caio Rosa, the show offers an immersion into Brazilian music through its roots and branches. On this occasion, I thank my friend Ramon Santos, who supported me in the mixing process.* ↩︎
- In reference to Quilombo dos Palmares. A quilombo is a social settlement founded by black people in colonial Brazil, serving as a space of resistance and autonomy. Through their community structures of liberation—which still exists today—quilombos are crucial in resisting oppression and preserving African and Afro-Brazilian cultural traditions. The biggest and most famous, Quilombo dos Palmares, existed for nearly a century (c. 1595— -1695) in what is now the state of Alagoas, in the Northeast. ↩︎
- ORÍ. Director: Raquel Gerber. Script: Beatriz Nascimento. Brazil: Fundação do Cinema Brasileiro, 1989. 93 min. ↩︎
- Racionais Mc’s, Vida Loka Pt. 2. Original verse in brazilian portuguese: “Às vezes eu acho que todo preto como eu só quer um terreno no mato só seu, sem luxo, descalço, nadar num riacho, sem fome, pegando as fruta no cacho”. ↩︎
- I’m developing this concept in my PhD thesis vi.bra.ção: modes of being and modes of doing the city through Afrodiasporic sonorities. ↩︎
- A note I made in my travel journal after visiting the exhibition Granada Shifting the Centre: Grenada as Reference, London, May 2023.* ↩︎
- Brazilian architect, researcher, and independent curator. PhD candidate at the School of Architecture and Urbanism at the University of São Paulo (FAUUSP). Holds a Master’s degree in Geography from the Federal University of Espirito Santo.* ↩︎