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Permalink Reply by DE POWA of de VINCY on October 10, 2009 at 4:55am

This is one of my FAVORITE VIDEOS and SONGS from Aurelio Martinez called AFRICA.

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Permalink Reply by DE POWA of de VINCY on October 10, 2009 at 5:31am

No MATTER where they're, they ALWAYS ACKNOWLEDGE their ANCESTRAL LAND/HOME

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Permalink Reply by DE POWA of de VINCY on October 10, 2009 at 5:40am

I have had the PLEASURE of MEETING and SPEAKING to Mr. Palacio. He was such a humble individual. May he REST IN PEACE.

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Permalink Reply by DE POWA of de VINCY on October 10, 2009 at 5:56am

This is YOLANDA CASTILLO of the GARIFUNA FLAVA RESTAURANT in CHICAGO EXPLAINING how to make a GARIFUNA DISH called HADUT BARURU

Making hudut baruru with tikini at Garifuna Flava from mike sula on Vimeo.

I THINK I will TRY and make that DISH tomorrow.

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Permalink Reply by DE POWA of de VINCY on October 10, 2009 at 6:04am

I WONDER if we in SVG TRULY UNDERSTAND and APPRECIATE the IMPORTANCE of CULTURE

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Permalink Reply by DE POWA of de VINCY on October 10, 2009 at 6:37am

The FIGHT of the GARIFUNAS in HONDURAS AGAINST the GOVERNMENT to TAKE THEIR LANDS for TOURISM DEVELOPMENT.


This is why we in SVG should LET OUR VOICE be HEARD against the POSSIBLE SELLING of BALLICEAUX to FOREIGN INVESTORS to be used for TOURISM DEVELOPMENT.

That ISLAND should NEVER EVER be SOLD to FOREIGNERS, because it is an ESSENTIAL PART of our NATION'S HISTORY and FIGHT against the COLONIZERS of our LAND.

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Permalink Reply by DE POWA of de VINCY on October 10, 2009 at 6:53am

I VIDEOTAPED this SHOW at SOB'S in NYC. This was one of the LAST SHOWS that Andy did before his UNEXPECTED PASSING.


The PROBLEM with his MIC has nothing to do with the VIDEO. The MIC was just LOW. The SOUND ENGINEER did a POOR JOB.

RIP ANDY.

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Permalink Reply by DE POWA of de VINCY on October 10, 2009 at 7:12am

This was the GRAND OPENING of the Garifuna Community Center CASA YURMEIN in the BRONX, NY.


CHILLS went through my BODY SEEING that VINCY FLAG.

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Permalink Reply by DE POWA of de VINCY on October 10, 2009 at 7:34am

A SAMPLE of the GARIFUNA FESTIVAL in NICARAGUA.

Permalink Reply by DE POWA of de VINCY on October 10, 2009 at 7:56am

This is Andy Palacio and the Garifuna Collective PERFORMING at Dangriga, Belize. This took place after their WORLD TOUR of their GROUNDBREAKING ALBUM called WATINA. Of course, they're doing the TITLE track and "GARIFUNA SONG" LIVE.


The WATINA ALBUM was VOTED the BEST OF ALL TIME by AMAZON.COM.

The 100 Greatest World Music Albums of All Time

Our editors put their stamp of approval on the 100 best-ever albums from the global set.


The 100 Greatest World Music Albums of All Time



1. Wátina by Andy Palacio & the Garifuna Coll...
2. Le Mystere Des Voix Bulgares by Bulgarian State Television Femal...
3. Live With Ginger Baker by Fela Kuti
4. Djiriyo by Abdoulaye Diabate
5. Congotronics by Konono N1
6. Everything Is Possible! by Os Mutantes
7. The Dub Factor by Black Uhuru
8. Força Bruta by Jorge Ben
9. The Orphan's Lament by Huun-Huur-Tu
10. Buena Vista Social Club by Buena Vista Social Club
11. Catch A Fire by Bob Marley
12. Ethiopiques vol 7 (mahmoud ahmed) by Mahmoud Ahmed
13. Dub From The Roots by King Tubby
14. Entre Dos Aguas by Paco De Lucia
15. Tango: Zero Hour by Astor Piazzola
16. African High Life by Solomon Ilori
17. Juicy by Willie Bobo
18. Gal Costa by Gal Costa
19. Balance by Sara Tavares
20. The Ravi Shankar Collection: Liv... by Ravi Shankar
21. Yol Bolsin by Sevara Nazarkhan
22. Red & Green by Ali Farka Toure
23. The Art Of Amália Rodrigues Vol. I by Amália Rodrigues
24. The Art of the Koto, Vol. 1 by Nanae Yoshimura
25. Juju Music by King Sunny Ade
26. Amen by Salif Keita
27. Fado em mim by Mariza
28. Dance Mania (Legacy Edition) by Tito Puente
29. Originalité by Franco
30. Volume 4 - Khaley Etoile by Etoile De Dakar
31. In The Dub Zone by Ja Man All Stars
32. La Kahena by Cheb I Sabbah
33. Diwan by Rachid Taha
34. Vietnamese Traditional Dan Bau M... by Pham Duc Thanh
35. Sahra by Khaled
36. Camping Shaâbi by Think Of One
37. Precious Platinum by Asha Bhosle
38. Traditional Music of India by Ali Akbar Khan
39. Troileana by Liliana Barrios
40. Via Brasil vol.2 by Tania Maria
41. Songs from Kenya by David Nzomo
42. Cesaria by Césaria Evora
43. New Ancient Strings by Toumani Diabate With Ballake Sis...
44. Lagaan by AR Rahman
45. Reveries by Paolo Conte
46. Taraf De Haidouks by Taraf De Haidouks
47. Promises of the Storm by Marcel Khalifé
48. Below The Bassline by Ernest Ranglin
49. Just a Little Bit Crazy by Joyce & Banda Maluca Feat. Bugge...
50. Mujer De Cabaret by Puerto Plata
51. Aman Iman: Water Is Life by Tinariwen
52. Lost Songs Of The Silk Road by Ghazal
53. Kita Kan by Kandia Kouyate
54. Wave by Antonio Carlos Jobim
55. Heart Of The Congos by The Congos
56. Spirits To Bite Our Ears : The S... by Thomas Mapfumo
57. Siembra 30th Anniversary Edition by Willie Colón & Ruben Blades
58. Segu Blue by Bassekou Kouyate
59. Welcome to Mali by Amadou & Mariam
60. East of the River Nile by Augustus Pablo
61. Fifty Gates Of Wisdom by Ofra Haza
62. Electric Sufi by Dhafer Youssef
63. Drums Of Passion by Olatunji
64. The Venezuelan Zinga Son Vol. 1 by Los Amigos Invisibles
65. Celia & Johnny by Celia Cruz & Johnny Pacheco
66. Shahen-Shah by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
67. The Sun Of Latin Music by Eddie Palmieri And Friends
68. Cru by Seu Jorge
69. Immigrés by Youssou N'Dour
70. Live At Acropolis, Athens, Greece by Kodo
71. Buena Vista Social Club presents... by Ibrahim Ferrer
72. The Lama's Chant: Songs Of Awake... by Lama Gyurme And Jean-Philippe Ry...
73. Elis & Tom by Elis Regina
74. Alone At My Wedding by Koçani Orkestar
75. The Idan Raichel Project by The Idan Raichel Project
76. Cheo by Cheo Feliciano
77. Spain by Michel Camilo
78. Mali Koura by Issa Bagayogo
79. Bomba de Loíza by Hermanos Ayala
80. The Lasting Impressions Of Ooga ... by Hugh Masekela
81. Legalize It by Peter Tosh
82. Zamba Malato by Peru Negro
83. Squeeze Box King by Flaco Jimenez
84. Pretaluz (Backlight) by Waldemar Bastos
85. Rodrigo Y Gabriela by Rodrigo Y Gabriela
86. Pirates Choice by Orchestra Baobab
87. Africa Must Be Free by 1983 by Hugh Mundell
88. El Hijo Del Pueblo by Vicente Fernandez
89. Mr. Gavitt: Calypsos of Costa Rica by Walter Gerguson Gavitt
90. Music of Bali by Gamelan Semara Pegulingan
91. I Will Not Be Sad In This World by Djivan Gasparyan
92. An-ba-chen'n La by Kassav'
93. Between Heaven & Earth by Andy Statman Quartet
94. Songs of Praise by Ami Koita
95. Danç-Êh-Sá by Tom Zé
96. Introducing... Ruben Gonzalez by Ruben Gonzalez
97. La Revancha Del Tango by Gotan Project
98. Fondo by Vieux Farka Touré
99. Gift Of The Tortoise by Ladysmith Black Mambazo
100. Altan by Frankie Kennedy And Mairead Ni M...

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Permalink Reply by DE POWA of de VINCY on October 10, 2009 at 8:02am

This is a MUST READ. We as VINCENTIANS TRULY NEED to GET IN TOUCH with our CULTURE.

The Garifuna Beluria and the Guadaloupean Léwoz:
Comparing the Survival of African Identity in the New World

Oliver Greene
(Georgia State University, Atlanta)



ABSTRACT: From Friday evening to early Saturday morning, the Garifuna (Amerindian-Africans) of Belize and Guadaloupeans, peoples from opposite ends of the Caribbean, celebrate their identity in distinct yet similar rituals. Participants maintain culture through two thematically parallel traditions: the Garifuna beluria, the sacred nine-night wake followed by secular music and dance, and the Guadaloupean léwoz, the symbolic survival of the weekly dance and music sessions following hard labor in the sugar cane fields during slavery. These cathartic yet rejuvenating rituals remain the single event in each culture through which the majority of indigenous dance-song genres and individual rhythms have been maintained. Using the beluria and léwoz as markers of New World African identity, this presentation compares and contrasts similarities between traditional Belizean Garifuna and Guadaloupean Gwoka music—namely, instrument construction, dance/rhythm and song genres, and the affects of encounters with Europeans—to celebrate the survival of African people in the Americas despite enslavement and marginalization.

Introduction:

My in depth relationship with music of the region began with my exploration of the music of the Garinagu and their ancestor veneration ritual known as adügürahani (commonly called dügü). The Garinagu are an African and Amerindian people who share a common language, system of beliefs, body of customs and practices, repertoire of dance-song genres, and rituals. They primarily reside in coastal communities in Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua and in major US cities. However, their culture was born on nearby St. Vincent Island. My introduction to gwoka several months ago was through Alix Pierre, a professor of Francophone literature and a native of Guadeloupe. After listening to several recordings of gwoka musicians and ensembles I consulted the Gwoka website.
As I read various links on the beautiful website, I was suddenly stuck by similarities in the construction of Garifuna and Guadaloupean drums. Based on information presented by Emmanuel Dufarsme Gonzalez during this conference we should include a specific type of Puerto Rican bomba drum to this list of similarly constructed drums. I also realized that there were two parallel and symbolic ritual events in Garifuna and of Guadaloupean music. These are the Garifuna beluria, the sacred nine-night wake that is followed by secular music and dance, and the Guadaloupean swaré léwoz, the weekly dance and music ritual that has been maintained since slavery. While the word swaré léwoz refers to a Friday ritual featuring numerous drum-and-dance genres, each with a specific rhythmic ostinato, the single word léwoz is the name of one of the rhythms performed during the ritual, though it is also used in Guadeloupe when referring to swaré léwoz. They are not only ways in which members of these respective cultures release physical and emotional stress and rejuvenate themselves but are the most frequently performed rituals and social events in each culture and as such they are vehicles through which the majority of indigenous dances-song genres and individual rhythms have been maintained. However, these rituals differ relative to role each plays in its respective culture. Naturally, I wondered if there was a cultural and/or regional link since the Garinagu of Central America are originally from nearby St. Vincent where they lived for 161 years.
Though such similarities in musical practice are not unusual there seemed to be more to the issue. The question remained: “Why has so much of the traditional music of the Garinagu and of Guadeloupe survived and thrived in traditional forms as well as recent derivatives of these forms while similar genres of music of so many other cultures of the Caribbean have been lost?”

African Ancestry

Garifuna-African Ancestry

The specific origin of the African ancestry of the Garinagu is very complicated. Sebastian Cayetano states, “the Garifuna African ancestry can be traced back to the region of West Africa, to the Yoruba, Ibo, and Ashanti tribes specifically, in Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, to mention only a few” ([1989] n.d., 32). Other sources suggest that the population of Garinagu on Saint Vincent was frequently augmented by African maroons (“runaways”) from nearby islands. West African ethnic groups from which these maroons are thought to have derived include the Efik, the Yoruba (1) (Coelho 1955, 6-8), the Ashanti-Fanti, the Fon, and the Congo (Bastide 1971, 77).
Douglas Taylor (1951, 31) concludes that the specific origin of West Africans on Saint Vincent by the end of the eighteenth century (when the Garinagu were deported to Central America) is difficult to trace because they arrived on the island at different times and from different parts of West Africa:
Sir William Young apparently believed that the Black Carib [Garinagu] had been, [sic] originally “Mocoe,” a name which [Suzanne] Sylvain identifies with Fi, Calabar, or Efik, as designating “a language spoken in the region of the mouth of the Cross River and from Old Calabar to the Niger delta.”
As we know, when European traders took Africans from their native soil to be enslaved in the New World, it was common practice for them to take individuals, or trade arms for them, from numerous ethnic groups in their southward journey along the central western coast of Africa before going to the Americas (2) (Greene 1999, 65-66).

Guadeloupean African-Ancestry

The African origin of blacks in Guadaloupe is addressed in the following early twentieth century account by Maurice Satineau:
The blacks who had been exported to the Antilles under the Ancient Regime and who form today the majority of the population of Guadeloupe, had been recruited in West Africa. This is stated by an official document dated on 18 November 1785, which contains a long explanation on the recruiting of slaves, and which indicates that European outposts were established all along the Western coast. French slavery was taking place mainly in Senegal, Sierre Leon, the Gold Coast, from the Three Points Cape to Cape Formosa, in East Guinea then known as the Slave Coast, or the Juda Kingdom, finally on the coast of Angola in Guinea Meridionale. Thus the population of Guadeloupe is composed of Senegalese, Wolof, Fula, Mandinga, Bambaras, Quimbas, and the blacks of the Gold Coast called Ibos and Macoes, blacks of Congo, Angola, and Mozambique (1928, 81).
Simply because the African ancestry of most New World cultures resemble a tree with many roots, I do not assume that practices of specific West African ethnic groups have not been retained among Garinagu and Guadeloupeans, especially when it is common knowledge that distinct practices from the Bantu of Angola, the Yoruba of Nigeria, and the Ashanti of Ghana are prevalent in Brazil, Cuba, and Surinam, respectively, to name a few. To presume specific cultural retention without confirming or negating it would be poor scholarship.
Based on historical accounts in several sources, I conclude that Garinagu and Guadaloupeans share a common African ancestry of only two ethnic groups: the Ibos and Macoes. Other regions of possible common African ancestry include Sierre Leon, the Gold Coast, and the Slave Coast. “Gold Coast identifies the coastal stretch from Assini in the west to the Volta River in the east, equivalent to the coast of the present-day Republic of Ghana. Slave Coast designates what is currently Togo and Benin and a small coastal portion of Nigeria” (Holloway 1991, 2-3). The Ashanti-Fanti (of the Gold Coast region) and the Congo are the African ethnic groups from which maroons are believed to be have been derived that augmented the population of Africans on St. Vincent and Guadeloupe. As was expected and as research verified, no definitive cultural connections can be proven, though there are similarities. In short, it is difficult to cite practices retained from specific African ethnic groups in the Caribbean because Africans were taken from numerous outpost along the west coast of Africa and the population of Africans on any given island in the Caribbean was increased by escaped slaves from nearby islands.

Comparing Garifuna and Guadaloupean Indigenous Music

As previous stated, the inspiration to conduct this comparative study of Garifuna and Guadaloupean traditional drumming and music was sparked by the recognition of similarities in instrument tuning and repertoire. Photographs on the link of the Gwoka Website entitled “Similar Caribbean Instruments” reveal striking similarities in the methods of tuning (specifically, tightening) the drumhead. Though similarities are apparent, the methods of instrument construction--that is the making of the wooden frame or chamber on which the drumhead is placed—are quite different. The link “Making a Gwoka Drum” on the website shows a highly developed process of the measuring and carving wooden staves, gluing staves and securing them with metal hoops, sanding the barrel and placing metal hoops around it, laminating the barrel, and finally securing the drum head. (Gwoka Website: (http://svr1.cg971.fr/lameca/dossiers/gwoka/instrument/fabrication/f..., June 10, 2005).
The construction of garawoun (Garifuna drums: the segunda and primero) is much less sophisticated and until the early to mid 1990s was done almost entirely by hand. A large thick portion of a hardwood log, usually mahagony or mayflower is cut into several circular frames, approximately 45 to 47.5 centimeters (18 to 21 inches) in height, each progressively smaller in size. The two to three outer circular frames will form the resonating chambers for segunda (bass) drums while the smaller inner frames will form the resonating chambers for primero (lead or tenor) drums. Before the use for the circular saw, only one drum could be produced from a single log. As with Gwoka drums, holes are drilled into the bottom of the garawoun to secure the tension ropes to which the drumhead is attached. The method of constructing the rim of both the garawoun and the Guadeloupean ka (drum) are also similar. The only significant differenced is use of the metal rod wrapped in twine to create the zoban of the ka and the use of beach vine as the rim to which nylon ropes are attached on the garawoun.
The function of the beach vine rim and the zoban are identical: to support tension created by ropes attached to the base of the drum and the drumhead. The primero and segunda appear most similar in construction to the traditional maqueurs of the 1960s (40 cm in height and 26 cm in diameter) in which beach vine was used to construct the zoban instead of a metal rod (see Gwoka cite: http://svr1.cg971.fr/lameca/dossiers/gwoka/instrument/variantes/var...).
Two to three nylon cords are stretched across the surface of both garawoun to produce the desired buzzing timbre. This timbre differs from that produced on the maké whose crisp, clear, and high pitched sound is produced by the tightly stretched skin of the drum head. These traditional drums of the Garifuna and of Guadeloupeans form the basis for music performed at a beluria and a swaré léwoz.

Rituals of Identity: A Comparison of the Beluria and Léwoz

Beluria

I always considered the belurias I attended in Belize City, Dangriga, and Hopkins, Belize, to be perhaps the most fascinating of post-mortem rituals of the Garinagu (3). The beluria, the nine-night wake for the deceased and the first of the Garifuna post-mortem rituals, is an unusual synthesis of belief systems, Catholic liturgies and Garifuna practices, and European and Garifuna music. It is usually held on a Friday, one week after the burial. The beauty and irony of the beluria lies in the juxtaposition of two opposing worlds: the solemn Catholic mass for the dead performed almost exclusively by Garifuna women at the home of the deceased followed by the drumming and singing of punta and other secular dance-song genres often led by men. Participants converse, dance, play cards and board games, and consume rum and local foods and beverages. Members of the immediately family do not participate it the celebration.
The most popular of the Garifuna dance-song genres are typically performed at belurias. These include punta, paranda, hunguhungu, gunjai, chumba, sambai, and wanaragua. Each dance-song genre is identified by and named after the distinct repetitive rhythmic pattern played on the bass drum that provides the accompaniment for singing and the musical foundation against which improvisatory passages are performed on the lead drum. All indigenous Garifuna songs are monophonic (that is, performed as single line melodies with no harmony). They are also performed in a call and response manner between a song leader and a chorus and in succession without a break or pause.
Punta, the most popular of dance-song genres, is (1) a type of social commentary song usually composed by women, (2) a symbolic reenactment of the cock-and-hen mating dance, and (3) the characteristic duple meter rhythm that accompanies the song form and dance. The dance is characterized by an almost motionless upper torso in contrast to the constant movement of the hips, legs, and feet, creating the characteristics shaking of the buttocks found in many African-derived dances (Greene 2002, 193). Accompaniment is provided by drums, rattles, and occasionally hollowed turtle shells struck with mallets and a conch shell trumpet. It is the most popular of the indigenous Garifuna dance-song genres. Punta songs are traditionally performed at social gatherings, parties, holiday events and following dügü(s), ancestor veneration rituals.
Paranda is a social commentary song form composed by men. Like punta, it is a duple meter rhythm however it is performed a bit slower. The rhythmic ostinato for paranda (see example 2) is almost identical to that of punta, however it shows the influence of traditional Latin-American music (ibid, 194). It is a serenade-like song that is traditionally performed by men who accompany themselves on the guitar. When guitars are not available, parandas are accompanied by traditional Garifuna drums and a rattle. The genre reached international popularity in 1999 with the release of the compact disc, Paranda: Africa in Central America (Detour 3984-27303-2).
Hunguhungu, a dance-songs genre characterized by a repetitive triple meter rhythmic ostinato, features a step and shuffle movement of alternating feet and appears to be the secular version for the hugulendu, the principle dance of dügü (the most extensive of the Garifuna ancestor veneration rituals). Hunguhungu may be performed alone or with punta in a dance referred to as “combination”, that is, the “combining” of hunguhungu and punta: the continuous alternation of the triple and duple meter rhythmic patterns of these two dance forms, respectively.
Gunjei is a couple’s dance performed to the accompaniment of steady down-beat pulses on the segunda, distinct repetitive rhythmic patterns on the primero, and a unison refrain. In the notes for Garifuna Music, a recently released compact disc of traditional music, David Whitmer states “the gunjei I have heard described as the most ‘African’ of the Garifuna rhythms. Lyrics tend to be limited and typically involve a repeated phrase suggestive of a chant. The gunjei dance is performed by several couples simultaneously, not unlike a North American square dance: a solo dance” (Whitmer, 2004, 6).
Chumba, as defined by the Garifuna educators Sebastian and Fabian Cayetano is “a highly accented polyrhythmic song, danced by soloists with great individualized style. This dance is probably related to the chumba found in other parts of the Caribbean, whereas in Grenada and Carriacou, some people claim to be descended from the Chumba, a people of eastern Nigeria. This performance includes a wide range of Garifuna music, some of which is rapidly disappearing in many communities (1997, 129). In Belize, chumba was often described as a faster version of gunjei.
In sambai, characterized by compound duple meter (6/8), solo dancers enter a ring of participants (drummers and dancers). Each dancer salutes the lead drummer, moves to the center of the ring, then performs unique, energetic, and sometimes acrobatic movements with fancy footwork (Greene, 1998, 676).
Wanaragua, commonly called John Canoe is the popular Garifuna interpretation of the masked Christmas processionals and is still performed in several former British colonies in the Circum-Caribbean. In Belize it is presented between December 25 and January 6 and features the mocking of British militia and occasionally their wives with the use of European faces painted on wire mess mask, feathered headdresses, knee rattles, tennis shoes, and white pants and shirts with black or colorful ribbon. Sebastian and Fabian Cayetano, commenting on this procession as a ritual that has been maintained since slavery, state that it was “one of the few events during the year when slaves were free to dance and party for an extended period of time . . . John Canoe dancers would visit the houses of their masters and receive food and drink in return for riotous entertainment” (1997, 128). By mimicking Europeans, Garifuna men empower themselves and symbolically all Garifuna people (B. Servio-Mariano 1995, 1). The retention of this ritual among the Garinagu is unique in that it is believed to symbolize the adoption of a tradition among enslaved Africans with whom the Garifuna worked on plantations and in lodging camps during the 19th and early 20th centuries (4). A more substantiated belief suggests a Jamaican-Garifuna connection. Judith Bettleheim states that the costumes of the John Canoe dancers from Belize performing at Carifesta in 1976 in Kingston, Jamaica, resemble a style popular in Jamaica during the 1951-1952 competitions sponsored by The Daily Gleaner, Jamaica largest newspaper, and most likely bear a strong resemblance to the costumes of turn-of-the-century Jamaica Jonkonnu performers (1988, 69, 42, 70).

The Guadeloupean véyé

Based on descriptions of the Guadeloupean véyé (a wake) by Alix Pierre and the Gwoka website, it is safe to conclude that the music of the contemporary véyé has evolved from a rite in which music was made solely with the mouth and body (boula gyel) to one incorporating various forms of percussion instruments. I was informed that boula gyel-- (boula - drum; gyel – mouth), the boula drum being imitated by the mouth—is heard less frequently than in previous years, even in rural settings. The link “Wakes in Guadeloupe” from the “Gwoka” website states that most likely no instruments were used “due to the church’s ban during slavery of playing any drum music during secular or religious funeral rites. The obvious question now is: Why not simply compare the beluria to the véyé? The answer remains: because the objective is to examine rituals found in both cultures in which the majority of the genres or styles of indigenous music and dance are performed, hence beluria and swaré léwoz.

Swaré Léwoz

Based on information from the Léwoz link on Gwoka cite, it is interesting to note that the swaré léwoz was originally held on Saturday evenings when agricultural laborers were paid. In addition to the various rhythms and accompanying dances of gwoka, the evenings included music from the quadrille ball, where Creole versions of the quadrille, waltz, polka, and beguine could be heard. These events also included drinking, eating, and the playing of grénnd (game of dice). With the increasing popularity of night clubs in the seventies and eighties the swaré léwoz was moved to the Friday evenings (Léwoz, p.1). The beluria, unlike the swaré léwoz, has remained on Friday night and never included the quadrille or other stylized dances introduced by European colonizers. Today in Dangriga and Hopkins such dances are choreographed for large groups of participants and are performed on Dec 24th and 31st at events called “grand ball” that are sponsored by local social clubs. The majority of Garifuna settlements in Central America are small to medium-sized villages and towns and are incapable of sustaining nightclubs. Therefore, during most weekends, the beluria remains the principle form of communal interaction through traditional dance and song.
The musicians and singers in both a beluria and a swaré léwoz take turns playing drums, singing, and dancing. There is no official audience and onlookers are also participants. During a swaré léwoz, not every onlooker/chorus member will be brave enough to move into the circle and challenge the maké drummer (lead drummer) as a dancer. In Garifuna dance-song genres, the role of the lead drummer changes from improvising rhythmic patterns, as in punta, to closely watching the movements of the dancer and interpreting those movements rhythmically, as in wanaragua.
Originally, during a swaré léwoz each rhythm accompanied a specific dance form, some of which were associated with specific occupations or forms of work. For example, graj (meaning “to grate”) would have been the rhythm used when grating cassava. Most likely with the abolition of slavery the original context has changed from that in which the rhythms would have been employed. Therefore, specific rhythms are no longer associated with specific work occupations. However, among the Garinagu, most repetitive rhythmic patterns have not lost their contextual association with specific dances and song types. Such retention may be attributed to the fact that the Garinagu were never officially enslaved in the New World and were able to maintain many of their indigenous musical practices. Therefore, they were able to maintain distinct genres of songs and dances and accompanying rhythmic motives in a more extensive repertoire of indigenous music than Guadeloupeans.

Summing it Up

The degree of retention or change experienced in the music of the Garinagu and Guadelopeans is directly related to the degree of contact their African ancestors had with Europeans or other people. The experiences of Africans brought by the French to the islands of Grand Terre and Basse-Terre and inadvertently by the Spanish to Saint Vincent were vastly different. Most likely the distinct association of dance and song to rhythm commonly found in slavery was most likely lost during the century following emancipation, as the need for ethnic and social camaraderie waned. The corrosion of this association was possibly accelerated with the advent of modernity and the musical technologies associated with it, and subsequently the development of Gwoka moden and as of late dub ‘n’ ka. The léwoz link also speaks of movement away from musicians who were primarily agricultural workers to the emergence of a new generation of musicians, the association of gwoka with politics and identity, and of “corporatism”, citing Akiyo-Ka and its followers in the Rasta community, and the group Indestwaska, gwoka purists (Gwoka, (http://svr1.cg971.fr/lameca/dossiers/gwoka/instrument/fabrication/f....)
The separation or marginalization experienced by the Garinagu in communities often physically distant from those settled by Europeans and maintained by the Creoles (their Africanized offspring in Belize) resulted in limited accessibility and exposure to the changes and developments of the times. However, the byproduct of such separation is two-fold: a greater retention of indigenous dance-song genres and less influence from the music of neighboring cultures. Radio, television, and advancements in musical technology among the Garinagu gave birth to punta rock, a popular derivative of punta that was created in the early 1980s (Greene 2002, 190). Punta rock bands are usually composed of contemporary Western popular instruments, namely keyboards, guitars, synthesizer, and drum machine with traditional Garifuna instruments such as the primero, segunda, shakka, and occasionally the turtle shells. The traditional punta dance is performed in a more sexually suggestive manner when accompanied by punta rock music.
In general punta rock, unlike gwoka moden, has yet to produce noted corporations of musicians, that is, groups of musicians who ascribe to similar practices, belief systems, ideals and philosophies for living by which they are identified. Punta rock musicians do not address political and social issues in song lyrics as much as performers of gwoka moden and dub’ n’ ka, because most punta rock songs are contemporary arrangements of the preexisting punta songs, as they have been since the birth of the genre. Though the traditional music of the Garinagu and Guadeloupeans vary in the ways they have evolved, all styles of music old and new are expressions of identity through which musicians interpret their worlds, past and present.
My understanding about the role of the presenters here was to raise questions or theories about the meaning of continuities, parallels, and distinct differences through our own research while maintaining awareness of potential relationships with gwoka and other forms of Guadeloupean music cultures. In short, the relationship between the music of the African Diaspora discussed in this seminar is comparable to that of participants in a large family reunion in which individuals discover new relatives and reacquaint themselves with old ones.


Notes

(1) On several occasions, Garinagu and Nigerians of various ethnic groups have suggested to me that many of the words found in “Garifuna” (the language) are very similar to words found in Yoruba and other indigenous languages of Nigeria. Comments have also been made concerning similarities between secular music (drumming and singing) and masked dancing among the Garinagu and Yoruba.
(2) This further supports a general belief that the adoption of the language of the Island Carib by Africans on Saint Vincent was out of the need to find a mutual form of communication.
(3) These cities are located on the central and southern coast of Belize. The estimated population of Belize City, the largest city in the country, is 51, 535 (2005 estimates). Though creoles and mestizos are substantially larger in number than Garinagu in Belize City, sizable numbers of the latter reside in the city. Dangriga and Hopkins are adjacent Garifuna communities located south of Belize City. Dangriga, occasionally referred to as Stann Creek, its former name, has approximately 9,497 inhabitants (2005 estimates). See http://www.mongabay.com/igapo/2005_world_city_populations/Belize.html. No population figure was given for the village of Hopkins. According to the CIA World Fact Book the estimated population of Belize 279,457 (updated August 2005). See http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/bh.html.
(4) It is important to note that the descendents of these slaves—whether of European and African ancestry or solely of African ancestry—are known as Creoles in Belize.

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