Pre-Prohibition Times & Cannabis Jazz
The oldest records of human use of Cannabis indicate that it was used 7 thousand years ago, in China: the plant was considered a holy medicine against apathy, weakness and rheumatism, according to the teachings of Emperor Shen-Nung. In India, 4000 years ago, the “Bhang” was the path to spiritual initiation according to the Artava-veda, the sacred book of Hinduism.
In Brazil, Cannabis was first called Pango, and then Fumo-de-Angola, Liamba, Riamba and Diamba, until the name Marijuana predominated. According to researcher Bruno Cesar Cavalcanti, as early as 1777 there were records of the use of the herb in Minas Gerais. Initially linked to ritualistic use by black and indigenous populations, cannabis would end up being marginalized and demonized throughout the 20th century. In the 1920s, a fruitless legal escalation against psychoactive substances began in Brazil through a prohibitionist public policy based on international treaties and regulations that had no relation to our reality and which were reproduced here with racist and eugenicist justifications. Until the beginning of the 20th century, psychoactive substances such as Cannabis were seen all over the world from the point of view of physical and spiritual well-being and medicinal therapy. It was with this free spirit that the sacred plant was present in jazz and blues at that time.
In 2009, the collection “Reefer Blues: Vintage Songs About Marijuana” was released in several volumes, which brings countless songs inspired by Marijuana with the psychedelia and lightness of a time before prohibitionism (dumb and malicious) that has spread since then.
In Brazil, Cannabis was first called Pango, and then Fumo-de-Angola, Liamba, Riamba and Diamba, until the name Marijuana predominated. According to researcher Bruno Cesar Cavalcanti, as early as 1777 there were records of the use of the herb in Minas Gerais. Initially linked to ritualistic use by black and indigenous populations, cannabis would end up being marginalized and demonized throughout the 20th century. In the 1920s, a fruitless legal escalation against psychoactive substances began in Brazil through a prohibitionist public policy based on international treaties and regulations that had no relation to our reality and which were reproduced here with racist and eugenicist justifications. Until the beginning of the 20th century, psychoactive substances such as Cannabis were seen all over the world from the point of view of physical and spiritual well-being and medicinal therapy. It was with this free spirit that the sacred plant was present in jazz and blues at that time.
In 2009, the collection “Reefer Blues: Vintage Songs About Marijuana” was released in several volumes, which brings countless songs inspired by Marijuana with the psychedelia and lightness of a time before prohibitionism (dumb and malicious) that has spread since then.
Text: Kleber Nigro / @ kn1gr0
So I recommend a trip back in time with the first volume of the series:
