Nº3 CONGADA by ROOTS TO FRUITS

Riso-printed, 48 pages, designed as half photo book/ half magazine.

This publication is based on the research and memories of Spirito Santo (1947), including a written reflection by his son Caio Rosa (1992). The text was written based on conversations held in Portuguese in the period between March and July 2024, and later translated and edited by Juliana R. Senna (1986) and Mirelle van Tulder (1988). Through revisited and lost memories, and nuances in translation, this unacknowledged history is now made globally accessible. 

Roots to Fruits Nº3 Congada
Over the course of five decades, self-taught musician and ethnomusicologist Spirito Santo (1947) has produced hundreds of hours of audio recordings containing music, reports and interviews, many meters of black & white negatives and colored slides using amateur photographic equipment, such as polaroids, point-and-shoot cameras and K7 recorders, capturing unique moments of the cultural history of the Central African diaspora in Minas Gerais, Brazil.

This season of Roots to Fruits explores the building of a self-funded archive and one of its most recurrent themes, namely: Congadas. Far from the academic realm, which had little to no interest in understanding the “African culture in Brazil”, the archive tells many stories. It speaks of a resilient musician looking for resonance and the history of his people, as well as of the underexposed Black inheritance of Brazil’s identity.

In Memórias Congadeiras, Spirito Santo and his son Caio Rosa challenge hundreds of years of Portuguese imperial rule that have dominated the memory-making processes taking place in Brazil’s society, carrying out a collective process of resistance against colonial erasure of the cultural expressions practiced by their ancestors. 

The precious intergenerational and intercontinental conversations that preceded this issue have shown us just how much knowledge and Brazilian history is still hidden in personal archives. Roots to Fruits Nº3 Congada is an homage to Spirito Santo’s life’s work, most of which has never been published before. Through revisited and lost memories, and nuances in translation, this unacknowledged history is now made globally accessible. 

As much as the archival material assembled in this issue can only be fragmentary, it stands as an open invitation for further research. To publish means to challenge and enrich our canon of references. May this publication encourage further research and a continuous practice of learning and unlearning.

Colophon
Contributors: Spirito Santo & Caio Rosa
Editors: Juliana R. Senna & Mirelle van Tulder
Translation: Juliana R. Senna
Final Editing: Tamara Hartman
Editor-in-Chief: Mirelle van Tulder
Graphic Design: Mirelle van Tulder
Printing: Riso Paradiso, Ljubljana
Publisher: Roots to Fruits, Amsterdam 2024

Roots to Fruits is an independent publisher and seasonal magazine dedicated to exploring decolonial sounds. Based in Amsterdam since 2019, it facilitates intergenerational and decolonial dialogues by publishing overlooked archival material, making unknown works available to new and expanded audiences. We see publishing as a practice of being in conversation with the artists and their work, building on collaborative practices and modes of research grounded in the sounds of diasporic communities and histories.