By Dario Montero
MONTEVIDEO, Feb 9 1999 (IPS)

Black communities turned out in force last week to recreate religious and cultural traditions in a carnival that dates back to the era of slavery in Uruguay.

Descendants of Africans brought to the coast of the Rio de la Plata as slaves took part in the ritual passed down since colonial times, when slaves were only allowed to publicly express their ancestral culture during the celebration of Corpus Christi.

Today, the black population of Uruguay represents nearly six percent of the total of 3.1 million citizens of this country, according to census figures.

“Candombe” music – stemming from the fusion of rhythms from African ethnic groups – featured in the festivities of the “comparsas” that mobilizes blacks and whites in a symbol of racial integration that stretches back to the 19th century.

The comparsas were first created by white students who painted their faces to resemble blacks and imitated them in order to take part in the carnival festivites, according to historian Nestor Silva, cultural director of the organization Mundo Afro.

These groups became known as “lubolos”, taking their names from an African ethnic group, and were the point of entry for the black community in traditional forms of carnival for all urguayans after slavery was abaolished.

Before then, however, the slaves could only hold a festive parade in January on St. Baltasar’s Day and a few other times when they managed to express themselves.

The groups of lubolos originated in the performances created by Spanish students, some of which have persisted until today. Even some of the costumes have survived, such as black stockings, the “bombachin” (loose pants) and wide-brimmed hats – meant to conceal the fact the wearer was white.

Researcher Julio Olivera says that the candombe emerged among black slaves as a form of maintaining contact with their African roots, and gradually became a liberating element.

This musical expression, one of few that originated in Uruguay, “survives in the rich rhythmic beat of three or four drums, called ‘chico’, ‘repique’, ‘piano’ and ‘bombo’, which can multiply until they form dozens of drum sets in the comparsas that parade during ‘calls,’ explained Olivera.

A group of people coming together to play the drums in Uruguay can happen at any time of the year in addition to the carnival festivities, sometimes as part of some popular celebration, such as soccer triumphs, the celebration of independence day, or Christmas and the New Year.

The ‘Calls,’ a high point of the candombe involve a parade of groups of 50 to 100 people, most of them playing drums, who are joined by a troupe of dancers, a “vedette” (female dancer) and several characters that evoke kings, medicine-men and elders from the original African nations.

These ‘Calls’ originated from convocations made to different religious entities and the different drumbeats that responded, although this has changed throughout the years, to the point that the festival has lost its religious flavor.

The popular theory that other historians embrace, however, attributes the name to the call that was made to the rhythm of the drums in the last century, something like a citizens’ “tam-tam” to gather the slaves to protest against their servitude.

“Someone would hang a drum around his neck and went from one house to another recruiting others, just like when we knock on the door or ring the doorbell to communicate with some we wish to see”, said Olivera.

The Calls that take place every Friday in February were institutionalized by the municipal authorities of Montevideo in 1956, but they never shed their transgressive roots.

During the military dictatorship (1973-1985), the Calls were a dominant form of popular protest, and generated strong repression, especially at the beginning of the 1980s.

Historians point out that the comparsas of blacks participated in the Calls last century and at the beginning of this one had about 300 participants, most of whom traveled on foot.

The ever-present symbols of these groups still have significance, though they have undergone many changes over the years. The most important is a standard, and its bearer must meet a series of requirements in order to deserve the honor.

Stars and half moons signify the respect that the African ancestors had towards nature. The “domino” or cape derives from the costume used by the African kings.

The “vedette” is the only extraneous element in the Uruguayan comparsas. “Originally from Paris and inherited later by Cuba, the figure was transplanted to Uruguay and in the 1940s became the central character of the comparsa lubola of Montevideo”, said Olivera.

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