Makankamaná de África a Palenque, un documental que presenta la herencia musical afrocolombiana en San Basilio de Palenque, Bolívar.

Abstract

Makankamaná: From Africa to Palenque is an audiovisual project that seeks to highlight, understand, and celebrate the Afro-Colombian musical heritage present in San Basilio de Palenque, emphasizing the drum as a symbolic, spiritual, and identity-defining element of the community. More than simply documenting an artistic expression, the work proposes an interpretation of Palenque musicality as an ancestral system of communication. The documentary explores how the people of Palenque have preserved, reinterpreted, and transmitted their African legacy through musical practices, funeral rituals such as the lumbalú, body language, traditional pedagogies, and unique forms of oral tradition that directly connect community life with the memory of their ancestors. Through the drum — a sacred instrument handcrafted and enriched by a blend of African, Indigenous, and Caribbean influences — social, spiritual, and symbolic dynamics are revealed that have allowed for cultural continuity and community cohesion in Palenque throughout the centuries. The project contributes to safeguarding Palenque's intangible heritage and addresses the lack of media productions that approach Palenque music from a profound, non-folkloric perspective. The documentary is intended as a pedagogical tool to strengthen intergenerational transmission processes, as an exercise in community recognition, and as a means to promote the appreciation of Afro-descendant culture in external academic and cultural settings.