By Geneva Greene and Cameron Poles
Drums sounded throughout the Go-Go Museum in Washington, DC as bands Colombia Negra and Black Alley conversed in a rhythmic, diaspora dialogue through Colombian and Go-Go music. The cultural exchange, held in celebration of Afro-Colombian Week and hosted by the Colombian Embassy in the United States, explored the shared experiences and unique differences among people of African descent throughout the Americas. Annually, May 21 honors the contributions and heritage of Afro-Colombians.
Vibrant rhythms radiated from the stage as the special jam session began with original songs performed by Colombia Negra followed by Black Alley. Each band symbolized the journeys traveled by African people whose stories and encounters were etched into each sound. In a panel conversation, Colombia Negra’s musical director Esperanza Bioho Perea declared that African contributions influence everything in Colombia. She expressed that despite slavery and exclusion, music conveys joy and resistance as an enduring part of Afro-Colombian existence. Perea emphasized that the rhythms serve as a bridge to ancestral messages, uniting the African diaspora from the Congo to Venezuela. The drums particularly played a significant role in liberation.
Esperanza founded Colombia Negra in 1978 to uphold Afro-Colombian artistic heritage. Colombia Negra fuses chirimía from the Chocó region; currulaos and marimba from the southern Pacific; the drums and sones of Palenque from the vibrant Caribbean culture; and the urban sounds of electric guitars—thus creating a sound that is entirely its own. The orchestra is composed of 14 professional artists—musicians and singers—of distinguished experience, heritage, and training.
Black Alley’s lead singer Kacey Williams represented the go-go connection. “We rely heavily on percussion. The congas, timbales come from our roots and heritage. We find that these instruments can speak to us across cultures, races, religions,” Williams said. “In Washington DC, we experience oppression of our people…by trying to push us out and silence our music. We use the music to fight back.”
Black Alley travels around the world as go-go music ambassadors to countries including Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania, and Cuba.
“The spiritual, emotional, and social work behind the music is so often overlooked. Realizing that the language is the only thing separating us, motivated me to learn more,” reflected Howard University doctoral student Ayanna Muhummad who attended the event.
Fulbright scholar Digna Paola Mosquera Cuesta from Chocó, Colombia shared, “this powerful space reaffirmed the sense of familiarity that Go-Go music has always brought me: the closeness to the rhythms of home in the Colombian Pacific. Because of this, Go-Go has been a space of welcome and belonging in this city that is still new to me.”
Go-Go Museum founder, Ronald Moten, emphasized that “it is very important to understand that we are all connected. Music is our happiness especially during times like this”. The Go-Go Museum officially opened in February 2025 in the historic Anacostia neighborhood. According to Moten, the enslaved sought freedom in the neighborhood. Now, the museum tells the story of innovations that emerged as products of liberation and connection. Prior to creating go -go music, Chuck Brown played with a Latino band. He embodied the spirit of diasporic exchange, blending African-American musical traditions with Latin and Caribbean influences to create go-go. Chuck is a powerful example of how diasporic exchange can give rise to new cultural forms. During the event, premiere percussionist Sundiata Ramin demonstrated the transition of rhythms from Africa to Cuba to go-go.
Salsa Choke, an emerging hip-hop influenced Afro-Colombian music genre, also made an appearance at the cultural exchange. Artist La Gente Pesada, also known as Heber Alexander Angulo Sevillano, performed a snippet of his music.
“To have Alex in the room as well, an innovator of a newer genre called Salsa Choke – born out of the Pacific Coast of Colombia and popularized out of Cali its largest Black city – was truly history in the making,” said Afro indigenous artist Gyzelle Garcia who has Afro Colombian heritage and lives in Maryland. “We were seeing ourselves, imagining, building a future and expanding ourselves and our possibilities in real time.”
The evening concluded with Black Alley and Colombia Negra engaging in an improvised jam session. As the final beats echoed, it became clear to the artists and the community members in attendance that this was less of an exchange and more of a reunion – of shared joy, struggle and memory. The rhythms of resistance pulsed through every drumbeat, every horn shot, every chant. The rhythmic conversation reinforced that from the streets of Bogota to the blocks of Southeast, DC Black histories and futures are not isolated stories, but verses in a larger, trans-Atlantic composition.
