Drums Cannot be Silenced: candombe and new activist ethos in the public space of Buenos Aires

Abstract

In the past two decades, Buenos Aires has witnessed a surprising growth and popularity of Afro-Latin American cultural practices. Foremost among them, and most visible in the city’s public space, is Afro-Uruguayan candombe. Having spread beyond the Uruguayan immigrant community that contributed to its re-localization in the 1970s, it is nowadays widely part of the youth urban culture along the country. The paper discusses the re-significations following this vigorous development and how it intersects with other social processes of contemporary Argentine society. Focusing on the re-signification of candombe as “resistance”, as performed by a collective of drummers and dancers known as “Los Tambores No Callan” (Drums cannot be silenced), it highlights the connections they establish between this cultural practice and politics as social struggle. It suggests that this cultural practice is part of –and helps shape– new activist ethos in the public space of Buenos Aires, a historically alleged “White” and “European” city.