Tue 29 Apr 2025 – 18:00 – Círculo Workshop – Decolonial resistance, priestessing, chanting and women’s drumming 2025

Workshop Details

💰 Donation: €12 per session (reductions/exceptions available—please reach out)
🗣 Languages: Brazilian Portuguese & English (chanting in Brazilian popular language)
✅ Attendance: No fixed commitment—join as many sessions as you like.

🔸 This space centers non-European immigrant women and non-binary people. However, everyone is welcome to attend and support the community.
🔹 Men are welcome as observers but may not chant or play the drums.

If you're unsure whether this space is for you or how to participate, feel free to contact us!

Description

We will practice Caixa do Divino*—Brazil's only drumming tradition exclusively led by women. Rooted in Candomblé Houses and Maroon Communities, this tradition is part of the Orixá Oxalá celebrations, an ancient force of nature. The Caixeiras (priestesses) sing and praise the prophecy:

✨ The Earth will know one hundred years of peace, under the rule of children. ✨

Caixa do Divino chantings are slow, steady litanies accompanied by drumming. You will be encouraged to learn both playing and singing simultaneously. The chanting is in Brazilian Portuguese, incorporating words and concepts from Brazilian Creole dialects influenced by Yorubá, Kimbundu, and native languages spoken in Candomblé houses and native communities.

Workshop Facilitator - The workshop will be led by Mameto Kaloyá, a non-binary, queer Roma diasporic descendant born into the Candomblé tradition (Maroon communities and houses). Kaloyá holds the title of Egbomi (poorly translated as 'young priestess') in the Candomblé House of Redandá (Cipó-Guaçu, Brazil). From an early age, they inherited multiple drumming and chanting practices from elders and learned the Caixa do Divino from the Caixeiras of the Fanti Ashanti House. Kaloyá is also a long-time participant in the Festa do Divino - Associação Cachuera! and an apprentice of Master Daniel Reverendo, Mother Gunzolande, and other traditional masters.