Bugiganga Tropical FINAL VOL. 4 RELEASE

Bugiganga Tropical Vol.4 ★ The 7 inch Collection ★

The Afro Diaspora Blues from São Paulo and Mississippi

10 Years Tropical Diaspora Records®

To celebrate 10 years of Tropical Diaspora Records®, we’re closing the chapter on our first vinyl series—the very project that sparked the label’s creation in 2015.

THE ORIGIN STORY: COLONIAL TRINKETS, ANCESTRAL WEALTH

The Roots of Tropical Diaspora Records

The word “bugiganga” still echoes in my ears – a Portuguese term meaning trinkets or knick-knacks, spat contemptuously by wealthy Paulistanos to describe my Black grandmother’s few possessions as she worked in their homes. An “empregada doméstica” they called her – just another euphemism masking modern slavery.

These records grew from that injustice. What colonizers dismissed as worthless – the music, crafts, and fragments of culture preserved by the oppressed – became our most sacred treasures. The Bugiganga Tropical series honors this truth: that what masters called “trinkets” were in fact the irreplaceable heritage of enslaved Africans and Indigenous peoples.

This is music as living history – not streaming data, but physical artifacts you must hold to truly know, just as my grandmother’s story must be held to be remembered.

The cotton plant embodies the bloodiest chapter of racial capitalism—the fabric of slavery that clothed the world while stripping Africans of their freedom.

“The ‘bugigangas’ of the oppressed outlast the gold of the oppressors.
This music is proof.”

THE COMPLETE SERIES: A BOTANY OF RESISTANCE

(Now updated with Vol. 4: Cotton) Each volume represents a plant that fueled colonial exploitation while nurturing resistance:

Vol. 1: Coffee (2015) – The brutal way of forced labor. The stimulant that fueled colonial exploitation.
Vol. 2: Cacao (2018) – The stolen sweetness of Indigenous knowledge. The bitter seed of stolen Indigenous knowledge.
Vol. 3: Tobacco (2020) – The sacred leaf turned currency of oppression and genocide.
Vol. 4: Cotton (2025) – The final stitch in slavery’s fabric, now unraveled.

Samba Blues

Lyrics and Melody: Renato Gama
Performed by:

Renato Gama: Guitar Arrangement
Izzy Gordon: Voice
Carlos Casemiro: Voice
Harmonica: André Luís
Cavaquinho: Camila Silva
Cuíca: Jhony Guina

Sound Technician: kauê Gama
Roadie: Marcelinho Henrique
Musical Production: Ronaldo Gama
Musical Direction: Renato Gama
Executive Production: Ligéa de Mateo

Lyrics:

Last Kind Words

Song by: Geechie Wiley

Performed by Piedmont Blūz Acoustic Duo: Valerie and Benedict Turner