Through the collaboration with Festa Literária das Periferias, this year’s edition of Middle Ground evidences the ties that have grown out of shared histories of colonialism, migration, and survival, particularly in relation to the Brazilian context. When Angola declared independence from Portugal in 1975, Brazil was one of the first countries to recognize it. In this curated listening session dedicated to Angolan music, the founding members of Kizomba Design Museum (KDM), Kalaf Epalanga and Nástio Mosquito, invite listeners to experience the sounds that have pulsed like a heartbeat across decades of transformation in the country. More than a nostalgic timeline of events, the playlist captures how it felt to live through the emergence of a new state. This non-linear sonic chronology spans fifty years of independence, with selections ranging from classic semba to post-colonial pop, from lamento ballads to deep kizomba cuts from Luanda’s underground.