On May 21, Colombia commemorates Afro-Colombian Day, marking the official abolition of slavery in 1851. It is a date that calls attention to the endurance and creativity of Afro-descendant communities and the cultural legacy they continue to build. It is an active presence in everyday life, in music, in language, in cuisine, and in the way many Afro-Colombian communities live and organize today.
From West Africa to the Americas: Resistance Through Culture
Millions of people were forcibly taken from the coastal regions of West Africa, from Guinea-Bissau to Cameroon, and transported to the Americas. In Colombia, many of these communities preserved and transformed their knowledge under brutal conditions. In the process, new languages, religions, and musical styles emerged, as tools of resistance and survival.
One of the most significant outcomes of this resilience is the Palenquero language. A Creole with Bantu, Portuguese, and Spanish roots. It developed in San Basilio de Palenque, a town founded by self-liberated Africans led by Benkos Biohó in the early 17th century. San Basilio de Palenque became the first free afro town in the Americas. There, people built a society on their own terms, with their own forms of governance, knowledge, and artistic expression. The Palenquero language was once discouraged and even suppressed. Today, it is taught in schools, sung in music, and spoken proudly.
San Basilio de Palenque, the first free town in america
Designated by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage, San Basilio de Palenque remains a center of Afro-Colombian cultural continuity. Even hairstyles carried information: women braided maps into their hair, hid gold and seeds beneath headwraps, and prepared for escape and new beginnings. These codes were acts of strategic resistance, preserving knowledge across generations.
The Legacy Carried Through Language, Food, and Healing
The African diaspora in Colombia has created ways of life that continue to influence every part of the country:
- Languages like Palenquero and Creole in San Andres and Providence, remain active and taught in their communities.
- Traditional cuisines from Colombia’s Pacific and Caribbean coasts include dishes like encocado, piangua, shrimp rice, a wide variety of fried foods, and sweets made with local fruits. They also feature viche or ñeke, as it’s known in San Basilio de Palenque. A medicinal and ceremonial drink distilled and shared by Afro-Pacific women.
- Midwifery practices in the Pacific, passed down by Afro-Colombian women, are recognized by UNESCO for their cultural significance.
- Musical instruments like the marimba on Colombia’s Pacific coast and the marímbula in San Basilio de Palenque were created with inspiration from instruments such as the balafon in Mali and the sanza in Cameroon. They were adapted to local materials, linking ancestral memory to the territory.
Music as Resistance
Cumbia originated from the blending of African, Indigenous, and European traditions. Its steps, sliding and grounded, evoke the weight of iron shackles. Its sound, built around percussive patterns and melodic gaitas, held communities together through coded messages, dance, and shared experience.
In Cartagena, champeta emerged in working-class Afro neighborhoods, shaped by African guitar riffs, Caribbean basslines, and local stories. Once criminalized and banned from public spaces, champeta now carries cultural significance and political weight. Its beat reminds listeners of its origins in joy, resistance, and survival.
At Bazurto Market, champeta lives on through spontaneous DJ sets, booming speakers, and conversations among vendors, cooks, and musicians. Artists like Charles King helped shape its form and message, pushing it from the margins to national airwaves. The market also offers insight into the everyday life of Afro-Cartageneros, with foods like mango biche, fresh fish, and arepa de huevo served alongside personal and musical storytelling.
Petronio Álvarez Festival: Celebration and Cultural Continuity
Every August, the Petronio Álvarez Festival brings together musicians, cooks, dancers, and tradition-bearers from across the Afro-Pacific region. Named after a legendary composer and marimba player, the festival centers traditional genres like currulao, bunde, and juga. It’s a gathering of community-based groups who pass down their knowledge orally and collectively.
The festival includes food stalls, hair braiding demonstrations, healing spaces, and youth circles. It’s a living classroom where elders and youth co-create knowledge. For many artists, performing at Petronio Alvarez Festival is both a cultural responsibility and a political statement.
Recognition Took Too Long: The Ongoing Struggle for Land and Rights
Colombia’s 1991 Constitution finally recognized the country as multiethnic and multicultural, 189 years after the official abolition of slavery. In 1993, Law 70 granted Afro-Colombian communities collective land rights and cultural autonomy over territories they had inhabited and protected for generations. These were the result of long-standing organizing and struggle.
Afro-Colombian communities continue to claim space and protect life through collective farming, artistic expression, local leadership, and intergenerational learning. Elders, midwives, cooks, and musicians remain the backbone of this continuity.
Experience Afro-Colombian Culture Through Music and Connection
Our tours are rooted in these stories and communities. They are encounters with people who have shaped Colombia through memory, resistance, and creativity:
Petronio Álvarez Festival Tour
Attend the Petronio Álvarez Festival, led by Afro-Pacific communities who preserve and share their musical traditions. The festival showcases rhythms recognized as intangible heritage of humanity.
Cartagena Music Tour
Walk through the neighborhoods where champeta was born and hear the stories behind its sound. Visit the walled city to understand the histories and communities that shaped it. Experience Cartagena through the people who keep its culture alive.
Colombia Music Tour
Connect with the roots of Colombia’s musical identity, shaped by Afro and Indigenous traditions. Visit towns like Santa Cruz de Mompox, where music is passed down through family gatherings, schools, and community celebrations.
Afro-Colombian Day a way of seeing the present clearly, and of committing to a future built on justice, autonomy, and shared memory.
