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Years in the making, Wátina is infused with contemporary influences, yet firmly rooted in the rich musical traditions of the Garifuna culture. Belizean icon, Andy Palacio, leads an all-star, multi-generational lineup to deliver a monumental tribute to the Garifuna of yesterday and tomorrow. The tale of Andy Palacio and the Garifuna Collective traces its roots to the early 1980s, when a teenage Palacio traveled from his home in the Central American country of Belize to Nicaragua to serve in a literacy campaign. Palacio is Garifuna, a unique culture based on the Caribbean coast of Central America that blends elements of West African and Native Caribbean heritage. Andy was told that Nicaragua's local Garifuna traditions and language were all but extinct. He was en route via boat to the Nicaraguan village of Orinoco to begin his first literacy assignment, when a storm forced a change of direction, leading to a surprise encounter that had a lasting impact on Palacio's music, career, and life mission. The legacy of this life-changing meeting lives on in the music of Wátina, a stunning new album featuring an all-star, multigenerational lineup of Garifuna musicians from Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras. The Garifuna people originated when two large ships, filled with a delivery of West african slaves, sunk off the coast of the Caribbean island of St. Vincent in 1635. Half of the Africans survived and intermingled with the indigenous Caribs of the region, creating a new hybrid culture. Fiercely independent, the Garifuna community resisted European colonization, and were forcibly exiled to the Caribbean coast of Central America. Some were segregated and held onto their traditions and language, while others were forced to homogenize with the local predominant culture. To avoid his own mid-lagoon shipwreck, Palacio's boat captain decided to take a detour to a nearby village until the storm passed. He said to Palacio, "There is a Garifuna man in this village. You should talk in your language and see how he reacts." When the eighteen year-old Palacio greeted the old man, Mr. López, in the Garifuna tongue, the elder replied in complete disbelief, "Are you telling the truth?" "I told him, 'Yes, my uncle; I am Garifuna just like you,'" explains Palacio. "He embraced me and would not let go. He could not believe a man so young could speak Garifuna, having imagined the language would perish with him." "From that day I realized that what was happening in Nicaragua, the disappearance of Garifuna culture, foreshadowed what was going to happen in Belize less than a generation down the road," recalls Palacio. "I decided to follow my passion and focus more on performing Garifuna music as a way to keep the traditions alive long into the future." At first, Palacio became a local star of Punta rock, an upbeat Garifuna dance music infused with synthetic beats and keyboards. The Punta rock movement of the '90s was in keeping with trends established by successful world music artists such as zouk pioneers Kassav who blended the latest studio technology with their traditional music. But that was not to be Palacio's ultimate musical course. "Under the direction of my producer Ivan Duran, I made a 180 degree turn," exclaims Palacio, in his lilting, Caribbean-inflected English. "And I am so happy now to take a completely human experience onto the stage as opposed to where I saw myself heading in the mid '90s with samplers, sequencers, and instrumental backing tracks. I look back and I cringe. I don't feel a need to be devoid of technology, I do not want to become a slave to it." Belizean producer and musician Ivan Duran has spent the last ten years seeking out and recording what he calls "the soulful side of Garifuna music." He says, "We're not doing the strictly danceable material of Punta rock, where the lyrics are basically 'Shake up your waist and dance!' The fascinating thing you will notice about the styles we are doing is that the beauty is in the simplicity. Garifuna songs may only have two lines, and if you transcribe them, you still do not get the full meaning. But a good Garifuna song is like a photograph. It captures a moment in time; a split second of someone's life." Each track on Wátina is based on a traditional Garifuna rhythm and all of the lyrics are in the Garifuna tongue—a unique and endangered language whose root is Arawak influenced by Carib, French, and, possibly, West African languages. In 2001, UNESCO declared the Garifuna language, music, and dance Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. As an official within Belize's Ministry of Culture at that time, Andy Palacio played a role in securing that proclamation. Today, Palacio is one of those rare musicians with one foot in the world of cultural diplomacy and another foot on the performance stage. His new album brings together his dual passion for the safeguarding of culture and making modern music tied to Garifuna roots.

#central america #carribeans #garifuna #folk

The revival of Vinyl and Physical Music

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#Afro Caribbean #Carribeans #Family Senci #Haiti #Haiti Rap Creole #Hip-Hop #Kompa #Konpa #Rap Creole #Zouk

Get buried up to the waist, losers.

#tumblr ads #ai madness #carribeans #lust #passion #and being buried in sand apparently

They also looking for an apology from British government

#latest news #Carribeans #UN #UK

Just casually hiking in the #carribeans. #nevis #nevisnice #island #islandlife (at Nevis, St. Kitts, West Indies, Caribbean) https://www.instagram.com/p/Co0oJXgJzkN/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#carribeans #nevis #nevisnice #island #islandlife

While my stories are snowy, my feed is sunny 😄 what is your weather today? (the skiing photos will come later 😉 #hapoymonday #carribeans __________ Пока в сторис у меня снег, в ленте солнце 😄 а у вас какая погода за окном? . #летовзиму #путешественница (à Réserve naturelle nationale des îles de la Petite-Terre) https://www.instagram.com/p/B70_CQSIO9K/?igshid=13ly5an8dz5rn

#hapoymonday #carribeans #летовзиму #путешественница