Belize is a small country in Central America , bordering the Caribbean Sea , which borders Mexico north and Guatemala west and south. Separated from Honduras for 75 Km
Belize is part of the Maya region of Mesoamerica that extends from southern Mexico to Guatemala.
The first Europeans who entered what is now Belize was English , Followed by British woodcutters. They came in the year 1638 . As early as 1524 this territory was part of the kingdom of Guatemala as part of the province of Verapaz
In general we tend to visit different artists from one country or genre but we decided to break down a particular album that was released recently. This disc Watima of Andy Palacio and the Garifuna Collective.
Andy Palacio is from Belize and with different musicians Garifuna of Honduras, Belize and Guatemala, under the name of The Garifuna Collective, rescues mixed styles of music.
Watina is first track and just is the title track which translated into English can be translated as I Come .
The Garifuna history begins before the year 1635 on the island of St. Vincent in the eastern Caribbean. St. Vincent was inhabited by a tribe of Indians who called themselves Arawaks. The Kalipuna tribe from mainland South America invaded St. Vincent and conquered the Arawaks. The Arawak men were killed and the soldiers took wives Kalipuna the Arawak women. The Islanders were the result of the union of these two tribes.
The word "Garifuna", which means "cassava eating people" descended from "Kalipuna."
In 1635, two English ships carrying Nigerian slaves shipwrecked on the island of St. Vincent. At first, the English, Nigerians and Kalipuna that occupied the territory, fought against each other, but over time learned to live and mixed marriages were performed, thus creating the so-called Black Caribs who until the eighteenth century prevented European settlement on the island.
After several battles, the British finally drove the Caribs of the island. While many died of yellow fever, others were deported to Roatan Honduras but some of the ships were intercepted by the English, who sent the surviving Caribs 1700 Trujillo, Honduras where labor was needed and the army needed men.
The first Caribs who arrived on the coast of Belize were brought there as woodcutters by the English in 1802 and settled in the area near Stann Creek and what is now Punta Gorda.
Because of its alignment with the English, the Caribs found themselves on the wrong side of the political fence when Central America achieved independence from Spain. Those Caribs in Trujillo found themselves in the new country of Honduras where sentiments against the English were strong. Large numbers of Caribs fled to the coast of Belize where other Caribs already lived. It is this migration that is celebrated annually on November 19 as Garifuna Settlement Day, is a major holiday in Garifuna communities.
Garifuna culture tells the story of mass migrations and interbreeding and make a strong emphasis on music, dance and history. They have their own religion, which consists of a mixture of Catholicism, African and Indian beliefs.
Andy Palacio & The Garifuna Collective dedicated his first work specifically for the Garifuna culture. All these issues regain their particular language and some of their traditional rhythms.
Garifuna Yagan, (English: my canoe), the voices are accompanied only by drums and the lyrics tell the story of a man who lost in the sea, asks his canoe to take him back home.
Today there are only 250 000 Garifuna in the world. Globalization made the Garifuna heritage is being lost and with it the language (Garifuna), customs and music.
musician Andy Palacio, was born in Barranco, Belize and Garifuna grew up speaking at home and always was in contact with the music. At eighteen he traveled to Nicaragua and realized that their original culture was endangered and there met the last man who spoke Garifuna in Nicaragua.
The old man could not believe when he met Andy Palacio, a young man who spoke their language.
From that moment he decided to retrieve Palace and revitalize the Garifuna culture through music and soon gained a reputation as an interpreter of a regional style known as Punta rock, a dance based on a Garifuna rhythm mixed with some Caribbean styles like zouk and soca.
The meeting with producer and musician Ivan Duran, who founded in 1995 the Stonetreet Records, convinced Palacio made in focusing on less commercial rhythms and traditions to dive into the deepest roots of Garifuna music. Duran and Palacio created an ensemble with the best Garifuna musicians from Guatemala, Honduras and Belize. They also invited some of his favorite composers as Paul Babor, a 78-year Paranda icon.
in Belize began recovering a record Garifuna styles influenced by elements such as Paranda Latino, or sacred as Dugu or point.
You can hear several songs that deal with everyday issues, anecdotes and stories of the people. At the same time the drums also known as Garifuna first and second. And in the album highlights the presence of Paul Nabor a grandparent of Garifuna music. The disc is not a traditional Garifuna folklore work but rather a pop album with some reminiscences of reggae but based on Garifuna rhythms and traditional in the Caribbean region.
Baba is a song that can be translated as Father and became an anthem for the Garifuna community is very devoted to the Christian faith but with elements of African beliefs.
was composed by the young artist Adrian Martinez Garifuna of Belize involved with Andy Palacio.
In general the lyrics of the songs Garifuna stories are about everyday occurrences that serve as daily inspiration.
Jacob Edgar, the Putumayo label's artistic director had done some field work as an ethnomusicologist in the 90's and had been fascinated with the Garifuna music and the work of Andy Palacio, included some issues in earlier versions compiled theme in Putumayo.
Cumbancha, the parallel seal Jacob Edgar released this album in February this year. It is the first album with international circulation that is published recovering Garifuna music, in turn producer Ivan Duran is already putting together a disc with the presence of Garifuna women to maintain their way of working and genuine connection to the place of origin without artificial ingredients.
lidan Aban is an issue with a particular Paranda fusion of reggae, Caribbean dance music style which popularized with the Punta Garifuna music is one of the few songs on the album that incorporate this rate and his producer Ivan Duran did not want to venture into more commercial rhythm of the Garifuna but delve into their deepest roots. However, in lidan Aban roughly translated as Together, reggae and so merging spree particular.
The Garifuna population is distributed along the Atlantic coast of Belize and Nicaragua in 43 villages and settlements. In Honduras there are 98 000 Garifuna living in conditions of great health and nutritional deficiency. 78% of children under 12 are malnourished, and 3 out of 10 die within 2 years for this cause. 28% of the Garifuna population is illiterate and not enough schools in accessing education beyond the third grade. Only ten percent of the Garifuna who finish primary school continue their studies. A small percentage emigrated to the U.S. and the rest is part of the community and the lack of practice become illiterate.
Closing this journey through Belize and Garifuna community in particular, we can not ignore the song stops Miami, disk Andy Palacio & The Garifuna Collective, which speaks of rootlessness and the search place in the world.
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