The Tree of Forgetfulness and the Door of No Return

All had forts there. The Portuguese, the French, the British, the Danes and the Dutch. The slave port of Ouidah in today’s Benin, 40 kilometers west of the city of Cotonou, was witness of one of the most serious crimes against humanity. Slave auctions took place there. Over three centuries the site saw the departure of millions of slaves to the Americas.

Tropical Diaspora #1 remembers. The compilation revisits this chapter of human cruelty, the horrible history of slave trade. But it isn’t just another piece of memory, a site for sorrow. The record transforms the Tree of Forgetfulness into a powerful network of remembrances. It gives voice to the daughters and sons of the slave trade. It is testimony of how African slaves kept their cultures and history alive giving birth to one of the most amazing cultural experiments of humankind.

The record is not only inspired but is dedicated to all the ancestors of the modern great Afro Diaspora that kept their cultures alive.