Our Ancestors Swam to Shore showcases the rarely heard music of Angolar Creole (N’golá) speakers from the African islands of São Tomé and Príncipe. Many of the five thousand residents are descendants of escaped Angolan slaves, who, as their folklore tells, swam to shore after a shipwreck off the coast. “Gola” has historically been used as a slur on São Tomé and its speakers are widely regarded as the lowest class; today, most work as fishermen. Our Ancestors Swam to Shore was produced by GRAMMY-winner Ian Brennan and Italian-Rwandan filmmaker/photographer Marilena Umuhoza Dellias, as a companion to Ancestor Sounds, a collection of field recordings by the descendants of formerly enslaved people of Africatown, Alabama. The N’golá musicians of São Tomé repurpose common items, including canoes and fishing gear, as instruments. On Our Ancestors Swam to Shore, the power of music goes beyond melody, harmony, and instrumentation and acts as a transcendent force to tell a people's history with a nod toward the future.