What Is Radio Kilombo?
Radio Kilombo focuses on Pan-African music in all of it’s forms. From Digital Folkloric to Rare Groove to Global Bass, the program touches upon many styles and genres with the idea that the “future of music is in the past.” The show is produced in the studios of KPTZ.org 91.9 FM in Port Townsend, WA, USA. It is hosted by DJ David Bonobo and DJ Brazil Nut (Thais Oliveira). It was launched in November of 2021.
About The Hosts
DJ DaViD BoNobO (Su Bonobo) is a L.A. transplant exploring Pan-African Music as a radio journalist and as a live DJ. As a radio and podcast producer, DJ DaViD BoNobO (Su Bonobo) has interviewed Lila Downs, Sidestepper, Celso Piña, Rocky Dawuni, Antibalas, Boogaloo Assassins, Sandra Izadore, and more. As a live DJ, he masterminds a series of music events on the Olympic Peninsula called "Kilombo Funk." Guests have included Terror/Cactus, SpiderMonkey Beats (Angel Garcia from Mezklah), and Rafi El. He has had the privilege of playing for live audiences in Cuba and Mexico, and sharing live stages with DJ Cut Chemist & Charli 2na, Jeremy Sole, Very Be Careful, Aztlan Underground, Olmeca, and Mezklah. He uses music to take an active stance on immigrant rights, the peace movement, environmental reform, racial justice, and Queer rights. Su Bonobo has more than 25 years experience in radio/podcasting and live DJing. During his free time, he teaches media at Port Townsend High School.
Thais Oliveira (aka DJ Brazil Nut) hails from Sao Paulo, Brazil's metropolis. Her father is a Jazz and mpb (musica popular brasileira) aficionado, and she has absorbed much of his musical knowledge through a lot of record playing and live concerts. After working as a journalist in Sao Paulo, she set out to the club scene in London and there started a new path in hospitality. While traveling in China, she met her Alaskan husband and together they have been around the world dancing, eating and connecting with people. Together they have owned and operated a food truck in Paraty, Brazil (where 2 quilombos exist) and in Port Townsend, WA. She has long held a deep fascination with African culture within her native Brazil, and is a perpetual student of all forms of African rooted culture. Thais brings a wealth of experiences and first hand knowledge of Brazilian music with her as she embarks on this new adventure as co-host.
What Is A Kilombo?
In Brazil, the name "quilombo" equates to the English word "maroon." That is, it signifies an outpost that stands in resistance to the forces of colonization. The most famous of all was Quilombo Dos Palmares, led by the remarkable figure known as Ganga Zumba. As a prince stolen into slavery from the African Kingdom of Kongo, Ganga Zumba had military training. He subsequently led a ragtag community of downtrodden people (including Portuguese indentured servants, and Indigenous and African peoples forced into slavery) to create a quilombo that would exist for nearly 200 years and which grew to include nearly 20,000 people.
We find inspiration in the stories of people forced into slavery that bravely rose up in opposition to the forces of colonialism and its insatiable greed, racism, and ethnocentrism. For African cultures, music has always been a means to communicate, to create community, and to celebrate life. More than that, the vibrations of different rhythms that we still use today in popular music are still considered sacred by traditional practitioners since they are seen as the vessels that carry the energies of varying gods within their respective religions.
African rhythms have had a ubiquitous influence on the world, and since the advent of Jazz music, they have come to form the foundation of all popular music - in Africa, Europe, and in the Americas. African music is humanity's music, and in it, we find that our similarities far surpass our differences. This is the music that lead slave rebellions, fueled the civil rights movement in the 1960's and 70's, and it is the music that is sweeping the planet today. The funk with a thousand faces knows no borders, y asi es la manteca del mundo!
Radio Kilombo
P.O. Box 2091
Port Townsend, WA 98368
P.O. Box 2091
Port Townsend, WA 98368