Volume 1 of the Tropical Diaspora® Records compilation is available for pre-order and will be released in a limited edition for vinyl and cassette. This album features 9 independent bands from around the world, with a total of 10 tracks. The record is transparent and contains an inner sleeve with lyrics and a poster. This record is a powerful network of memories. It gives voice to the daughters and sons of the slave trade. It is a testament to how enslaved Africans kept their cultures and history alive, giving rise to one of humanity's most astonishing cultural experiences. The official launch was on 05.10.2019 in Paris, at the Indy Label Market – Independent label market, Paris edition.

The Tree of Forgetfulness and the Door of No ReturnThey all had strong presences there. The Portuguese, French, British, Danish, and Dutch. The slave port of Ouidah, in present-day Benin, 40 kilometers west of the city of Cotonou, witnessed one of the gravest crimes against humanity. Slave auctions were held there. Over three centuries, the site saw the departure of millions of enslaved people to the Americas. Today, on the beach, the Door of No Return keeps memories alive. The slave trade was more than simple human trafficking. The symbolic rituals involved reveal the brutality of the European colonizers. They sought to strip Africans of their humanity. Enslaved people were forced to go around the Tree of Forgetfulness, nine times for men, seven times for women, in order to forget their lives and cultures. Then, before their final departure, enslaved people were kept in dark huts called Zomais. Detention centers or refugee camps on Europe's borders today seem a farce compared to them, but equally effective. On the US borders, history repeats itself. Native Latin Americans know all about it. Many died in the Zomais; for the survivors, the most perverse part of this ritual was reserved: a one-way journey after crossing the Door of No Return.The TROPICAL DIASPORA #1 album remembers. The compilation revisits this chapter of human cruelty, the horrific history of the slave trade. But it is not just another piece of memory, or a place of sadness. The record transforms the Tree of Forgetfulness into a powerful network of memories. It gives voice to the daughters and sons of the slave trade. Countering the Door of No Return, a testament to how enslaved Africans kept their cultures and history alive, giving rise to one of the most astonishing cultural experiences in human history.The record is not only inspired by, but dedicated to all the ancestors of the modern and great Afro-Diaspora who have kept their cultures alive to this day.