Bugiganga Tropical Vol.4 by Izzy Gordon, Carlos Casemiro, Renato Gama, Valerie and Benedict Turner

Tropical Diaspora Records Completes Landmark Bugiganga Tropical Series with Historic Vol. 4: "Cotton" Featuring Samba Blues and Piedmont Blūz Acoustic Duo

As part of its 10th anniversary celebration, Berlin-based Tropical Diaspora Records proudly presents the climactic final chapter of its foundational Bugiganga Tropical series: Vol. 4: "Cotton." This commemorative 7-inch vinyl embodies the label's decade-long journey, bridging Brazilian and American musical traditions through serendipitous encounters that mirror the diasporic connections the label has championed since 2015.

The Stories Behind the Songs: A Decade of Musical Encounters

The creation of this final volume spans continents and chance meetings, curated by label founder DJ Garrincha whose personal connections with the artists shaped the release's profound narrative.

Side A: Samba Blues - "Resilience in the Key of Diaspora"

The journey to this collaboration began when DJ Garrincha was researching blues traditions in the Mississippi Delta, searching for the perfect sound to complete the Bugiganga series. During this period, a transformative transatlantic conversation with Brazilian composer Renato Gama revealed the deep spiritual kinship between Mississippi blues and São Paulo samba.

"As I walked through the Mississippi landscape where the blues was born," recalls DJ Garrincha, "I described to Renato how the same stories of struggle, resilience, and spiritual survival that shaped the blues were echoing through the samba circles of Brazil. We realized both forms were musical diaries of Afro-diasporic reality—raw, poetic documents of survival."

This conversation inspired Renato Gama to form the temporary collective Samba Blues with Izzy Gordon and Carlos Casemiro, creating a track that consciously weaves the melancholic slide guitar of the Delta with the rhythmic complexity of urban samba. The resulting composition, "Resilience in the Key of Diaspora," serves as a living testament to the shared roots and parallel evolution of these Afro-diasporic art forms.

Side B: Piedmont Blūz Acoustic Duo - "The Last Kind Words"

The discovery of Valerie and Benedict Turner came during an unexpected encounter at the Historical Regata in Venice, Italy. What began as a racial incident transformed into a profound connection when DJ Garrincha intervened in support of the Turners, who were facing discrimination during the festival.

"In that moment of tension, we found immediate kinship," says Benedict Turner. "When we discovered DJ Garrincha and I shared almost the same birthday, it felt like the ancestors had orchestrated this meeting."

The trio's farewell at a Venice crossing where eight streets converged—a powerful symbolic reference to the orishá Exú, who governs human pathways and crossroads—inspired the Turners to contribute "The Last Kind Words." This haunting acoustic piece closes not only the record but exactly coincides with Tropical Diaspora's 10th anniversary, making the completion of this musical cycle feel cosmically ordained.

The immigrants Perspective: Curating the Diasporic Dialogue

Founded in Berlin in 2015, Tropical Diaspora Records has leveraged its position in the European cultural landscape to facilitate conversations between diasporic musical traditions that might otherwise remain separate. DJ Garrincha's and Dj Dr.Sócrates role as cultural bridge-builder has been essential to these connections.

"These two encounters—one planned, one completely unexpected—demonstrate how the diaspora continues to find ways to reconnect," says DJ Garrincha. "From the research trips of the Mississippi Delta to the chance meeting in Venice's canals, the ancestors were guiding us to complete this circle exactly as we mark our decade of existence."

"The fact that we complete this series exactly ten years after we began, with songs born from such meaningful encounters, feels like a blessing from Exú himself," reflects DJ Garrincha. "The same crossing with eight streets in Venice were Valery, Benedict and myself said good bye now lead us forward into the next decade of Tropical Diaspora."

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 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.

here the full history...

/// Brazilian Portuguese Version

10 Anos da Tropical Diaspora Records®

Para celebrar uma década da Tropical Diaspora Records®, encerramos o capítulo da nossa primeira série em vinil — o projeto que deu origem ao selo em 2015.

A HISTÓRIA DE ORIGEM: BUGIGANGAS COLONIAIS, RIQUEZA ANCESTRAL

As Raízes da Tropical Diaspora Records

A palavra “bugiganga” ainda ecoa nos meus ouvidos — um termo português para quinquilharias ou trastes, cuspido com desdém por paulistanos ricos para descrever os poucos pertences da minha avó negra enquanto ela trabalhava em suas casas. “Empregada doméstica”, eles a chamavam — apenas um eufemismo que escondia a escravidão moderna.

Esses discos nasceram dessa injustiça. O que os colonizadores chamavam de “sem valor” — a música, os artesanatos e os fragmentos de cultura preservados pelos oprimidos — tornou-se nosso tesouro mais sagrado. A série Bugiganga Tropical homenageia essa verdade: o que os senhores chamavam de “tralha” era, na realidade, a herança de africanos escravizados e povos indígenas.

Esta é a música como história viva — não dados de streaming, mas artefatos físicos que você precisa segurar para realmente conhecer, assim como a história da minha avó precisa ser guardada para ser lembrada.

O algodão encarna o capítulo mais sangrento do capitalismo racial — o tecido da escravidão que vestiu o mundo enquanto arrancava a liberdade dos africanos.

A SÉRIE COMPLETA: UMA BOTÂNICA DA RESISTÊNCIA (Agora atualizada com o Vol. 4: Algodão)

Cada volume representa uma planta que alimentou a exploração colonial enquanto nutria a resistência:

Vol. 1: Café (2015) – O caminho brutal do trabalho forçado. O estimulante que alimentou a exploração colonial.
Vol. 2: Cacau (2018) – A doçura roubada do conhecimento indígena. A semente amarga do saber indígena usurpado.
Vol. 3: Tabaco (2020) – A folha sagrada transformada em moeda de opressão e genocídio.
Vol. 4: Algodão (2025) – O ponto final no tecido da escravidão, agora desfeito.

aqui a história completa...

Credits

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:
Samba Blues (Renato Gama)

No Haiti
Em uma encruzilhada
Houve um encontro de Robert Johnson e Carlos Cachaça
Não teve reza não
Mas firmaram uma composição
Um samba blues que será cantado por Jamelão
Que ira dividir com a Billie Holiday a interpretação
E Araci de Almeida ficara encarregada de dar a bênção.

Last Kind Words

Song by: Geechie Wiley
Performed by Piedmont Blūz Acoustic Duo: Valerie and Benedict Turner

The last kind words I heard my daddy say
Lord, the last kind words I heard my daddy say
If I die, if I die in the German war
I, I want you to send my body, send it to my mother, Lord
If I get killed, if I get killed, please don’t bury my soul
Oh, just leave me out, let the buzzards eat me whole
When you see me, see me comin’, look across the rich man’s field
And, if I don’t bring you flour, I will bring you bolted meal
I went to the depot, I looked up at the stars
I cried, that train don’t come, there’ll be some walkin’ done
Now my mama, she told me just before she died
Lord, my precious daughter, don’t you be so wild
Well the Mississippi River, you know it’s deep and wide
I can stand right here, see my babe on the other side
What you do to me, baby, it never gets outta me
I may not see you ‘til I cross the deep blue sea