It was the 1940s, a century after the abolition of slavery in the small South American country.

At the time, the "candombe", a typically Afro-Uruguayan drum rhythm, was in full swing.

"Candombe goes back to the time of slavery", tells the octogenarian to AFP about this musical genre classified in 2009 intangible heritage of Humanity by Unesco.

The Africans "brought it with them in their minds, because they didn't" take anything material, he recalls.

And then it was passed down through families.

As an adult, Cesar created his own "comparsa" (group) of drums in his neighborhood of Cordon, one of the cradles of Candombe.

Like every year, the group called Sarabanda participates in February in the "Llamadas" - in reference to the "calls" launched by the drummers - an annual parade organized since the 1950s and which represents a highlight of the carnival of Montevideo.

A dancer and traditional drummers on February 10, 2022 in Montevideo, Uruguay PABLO PORCIUNCULA AFP

Two evenings in a row, in front of thousands of spectators, the "comparsas" made up of around thirty musicians and dozens of dancers, with flamboyant costumes and make-up, compete in a competition.

Today, candombe is practiced by all Uruguayans, black or white, even if its history is intertwined with the struggle for equality of African descendants.

Cesar Pintos is proud of his roots, even if he doesn't know where his ancestors came from.

"According to what I've been told, we come from Congo or Mozambique, but where exactly, we don't know."

Montevideo was an important port of arrival of slaves in South America.

At the end of the 18th century, a third of the population was of African origin, according to the municipality.

For generations of slaves and then for their descendants, playing the drum helped maintain a link, even a tenuous one, with the African continent.

A dancer and traditional drummers on February 10, 2022 in Montevideo, Uruguay PABLO PORCIUNCULA AFP

When slavery was abolished, they created mutual aid societies where candombe took off from different African percussion traditions.

"A White Country"

"The drum for us is fundamental. It allows us to claim, to entertain ourselves", says Alfonso Pintos, the son of César, 59 years old and now at the head of Sarabanda.

He recalls, for example, the role of the comparsas in protesting against the dictatorship in Uruguay (1973-1984) or the racist regime of Apartheid in South Africa.

Traditional drummers on February 10, 2022 in Montevideo, Uruguay PABLO PORCIUNCULA AFP

Today, the "Llamadas" are more entertainment, but the fight for more equality is not over.

"There is always discrimination," said Tomas Chirimini, 84, president of the Africania association.

“Among the poor, there are a lot of blacks,” he says.

According to the World Bank, Uruguay stands out in Latin America for its low level of inequality, although blacks, who represent 8% of the 3.2 million Uruguayans, are more likely to be poor.

According to the National Institute of Statistics (INE), in 2014 more than half of Afro-Uruguayans could not meet their basic needs, compared to less than a third for whites.

"Uruguay really took the idea of ​​becoming a white country very seriously", in particular by encouraging European immigration, explains the American historian George Reid Andrews, author of "Being black in a white country" devoted to this country.

Dancers parade to the sound of traditional drums on February 10, 2022 in Montevideo, Uruguay PABLO PORCIUNCULA AFP

"In their daily life, many Uruguayans see being white (...) as the norm," he adds.

In Cesar's family, candombe is a heritage that is passed on.

Within Sarabanda, her grandson, Pablo, 34, leads the drums, and her great-granddaughter, Micaela, 29, leads the dancers.

His great-great granddaughter, Catalina, 7, is about to represent the fourth generation.

Among Afro-Uruguayans, some criticize the fact that candombe has become more commercial with carnival.

But the "most important thing is to be aware of what we represent when we pick up our drum," Fred Parreno, 34, a musician from Sarabanda, told AFP.

A dancer and traditional drummers on February 10, 2022 in Montevideo, Uruguay PABLO PORCIUNCULA AFP

"We represent everyone who came before us and shed their blood so that we could drum in the street."

© 2022 AFP