Tava No Quilombo

History and sentiment behind song

Escaped slaves gathered and established primitive remote settlements called quilombos. Some quilombos grew, attracting more fugitive slaves, Brazilian natives and even Europeans escaping the law, and some became independent multi-ethnic states.

Life in a quilombo offered freedom and the opportunity to revive traditional cultures away from colonial oppression. In this multi-ethnic environment, constantly threatened by colonial attack, capoeira evolved into a martial art focused on war.

The biggest quilombo, the Quilombo dos Palmares, consisted of many villages which lasted more than a century, resisting at least 24 small attacks and 18 colonial invasions. Portuguese soldiers sometimes said that it took more than one dragon to capture a quilombo warrior, since they would defend themselves with a strangely moving fighting technique. The provincial governor declared «it is harder to defeat a quilombo than the Dutch invaders.»