On Sunday nights, the drummers of Barrio Sur assemble by firelight at an intersection in the historic black neighborhood in a tranquil corner of South America. Flames dance in a gutter bonfire lighted to tone the hides of the drums. Bottles of red wine change hands. Rows of drummers pound down the street in a blur of muscle, sweat and sound, filling the night with an African-derived rhythm known as candombe. Well, it's the same with the drums.
Every neighborhood has a different beat.
The street-corner ritual is part of a neglected chapter of the African diaspora. The drums tell a story of the profound impact that African culture has had in Uruguay and elsewhere in Latin America. Throughout Latin America, black communities are asserting themselves after years of marginalization and seeming invisibility. Blacks in other nations are making their presence felt. Voters in Colombia recently elected to Congress politicians who emphasize their African heritage rather than deny it, as in the past.