Music of Belize
Encyclopedia
The music of Belize
has a mix of Kriol, Mestizo
, Garifuna
, and Maya influences. After many centuries of Maya habitation, British colonizers arrived in the area in the 17th century. Belize was Britain's only colony in Spanish-dominated Central America until self-government in 1964 and gaining full Independence in 1981. Belize is still part of the Commonwealth of Nations. Far more influential than this presence, however, was the importation of African slaves.
s, waltz
es, schottische
s and quadrille
s, while Africans brought numerous instruments and percussion-based musics, including marimba
. African culture resulted in the creation of brukdown
music in interior logging camps, played using banjo
, guitar
, drum
s, dingaling bell
, accordion
and an ass
's jaw
bone
played by running a stick up and down the teeth.
, is characterised by marimba
, a xylophone
-like instrument descended from an African instrument
. Marimba bands use trap drums, double bass
and sometimes other instruments. Famous performers include Alma Belicena and the Los Angeles Marimba Band. In Benque Viejo Del Carmen, the Los Angeles Marimbas were owned by the Castellanos family, whose patriarch, Ernesto Castellanos was both musician and master marimba maker. They gave scheduled weekend performances at the Los Angeles Club (also owned by the Castellanos Family) on Church Street in Benque Viejo Del Carmen. Although Alma Belicena was known as the mobile marimba band who participated in many events around the country, their variety of music was limited to cultural styles. Los Angeles Marimbas on the other hand remained fixed in their own home, rarely making external appearances, yet they were so skilled and diversified in music genres that actually listening to them was a treat and perfect marimba experience.
musicians is brukdown
. Brukdown
evolved out of the music and dance of loggers, especially a form called buru
. Buru was often satirical in nature, and eventually grew more urban, accompanied by a donkey's jawbone, drum
s and a banjo
. The word brukdown may come from broken down calypso, referring to the similarities between brukdown and Trinidad
ian calypso music
; the presence of large numbers of Jamaica
ns in Belize also led to an influence from mento
music.
In modern forms, new instruments have been added to brukdown. The "boom and chime groups" use bass guitar
, electric guitar
and conga
s, for example. Popular brukdown groups include The Tigers, The Mahogany Chips, Mimi Female Duet and Brad Pattico http://www.bjmjr.com/afromestizo/belize.htm. Brukdown remains a rural, rarely recorded genre.
to Central America (especially Honduras
and also Belize
) in 1802 by the British
when they conquered St. Vincent. The Garifunas kept themselves apart from the social system then dominant, leading to a distinctive culture that developed throughout the 20th century.
Forms of Garifuna folk music and dance encompass many styles including: punta, hungu-hungu, combination, wanaragua, abaimahani, matamuerte, laremuna wadaguman, gunjai, charikanari, sambai, charikanari, eremuna egi, paranda, berusu, punta rock, teremuna ligilisi, arumahani, and Mali-amalihani. Punta
and Punta rock
are the most popular forms of dance music in Garifuna culture. Punta is performed around holidays and at parties, and other social events. Punta lyrics are usually composed by the women. Chumba and hunguhungu
are circular dances in a three beat rhythm, which are often combined with punta. There are other songs typical to each gender, women having eremwu eu
and abaimajani, rhythmic a cappella
songs, and laremuna wadaguman, men's work song
s.
Drums play a very important role in Garifuna music. There are primarily two types of drums used:
1. The Primero (tenor drum)
2. The Segunda (bass drum)
These drums are typically made of hollowed-out hardwood such as mahogany or mayflower, with the skins coming from the peccary (wild bush pig), deer, or sheep.
Also used in combination with the drums are the sisera. These shakers are made from the dried fruit of the gourd tree, filled with seeds, then fitted with hardwood handles.
In contemporary Belize there has been a resurgence of Garifuna music, popularized by musicians such as Andy Palacio, Mohobub Flores, & Adrian Martinez. These musicians have taken many aspects from traditional Garifuna music forms and fused them with more modern sounds in a style described as a mixture of punta rock and paranda. One great example is Andy Palacio's album "Watina," released on the Belizean record label "Stone Tree Records."
, Hip Hop
, hard rock
, metalcore
and dancehall
stars.
Various metalcore
and hard rock
bands are scattered around the country (with most in districts with a higher Mestizo population such as the north and Cayo), and there has even been a rock and metal revival, with annual festivals and rock music programs on local radio.
There has also been a noticeable influence of EDM
in the country, mostly among youths, with house music
and dubstep
being prominent. Many have become disc jockeys with few becoming producers
.
However, despite the many growing rock and electronic music
scenes, commercial pop music
from the United States
and England
, and modern dancehall artists from Jamaica
(Vybz Kartel
, Mavado
) still remain the most popular forms of music among young Belizeans.
Belize
Belize is a constitutional monarchy and the northernmost country in Central America. Belize has a diverse society, comprising many cultures and languages. Even though Kriol and Spanish are spoken among the population, Belize is the only country in Central America where English is the official...
has a mix of Kriol, Mestizo
Mestizo
Mestizo is a term traditionally used in Latin America, Philippines and Spain for people of mixed European and Native American heritage or descent...
, Garifuna
Garifuna music
Garifuna music is quite different from the music of the rest of Central America. The most famous form is punta. Its associated musical style, which has the dancers move their hips from right to left in a circular motion...
, and Maya influences. After many centuries of Maya habitation, British colonizers arrived in the area in the 17th century. Belize was Britain's only colony in Spanish-dominated Central America until self-government in 1964 and gaining full Independence in 1981. Belize is still part of the Commonwealth of Nations. Far more influential than this presence, however, was the importation of African slaves.
European and African influences
Europeans brought polkaPolka
The polka is a Central European dance and also a genre of dance music familiar throughout Europe and the Americas. It originated in the middle of the 19th century in Bohemia...
s, waltz
Waltz
The waltz is a ballroom and folk dance in time, performed primarily in closed position.- History :There are several references to a sliding or gliding dance,- a waltz, from the 16th century including the representations of the printer H.S. Beheim...
es, schottische
Schottische
The schottische is a partnered country dance, that apparently originated in Bohemia. It was popular in Victorian era ballrooms as a part of the Bohemian folk-dance craze and left its traces in folk music of countries such as Argentina , Finland , France, Italy, Norway , Portugal and Brazil , Spain ...
s and quadrille
Quadrille
Quadrille is a historic dance performed by four couples in a square formation, a precursor to traditional square dancing. It is also a style of music...
s, while Africans brought numerous instruments and percussion-based musics, including marimba
Marimba
The marimba is a musical instrument in the percussion family. It consists of a set of wooden keys or bars with resonators. The bars are struck with mallets to produce musical tones. The keys are arranged as those of a piano, with the accidentals raised vertically and overlapping the natural keys ...
. African culture resulted in the creation of brukdown
Brukdown
Brukdown is a genre of Belizean music. Its best-known performer and innovator, Wilfred Peters is regarded as a Belizean national icon. The word brukdown may come from broken down calypso, referring to the similarities between brukdown and Trinidadian calypso music; the presence of large numbers...
music in interior logging camps, played using banjo
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
, guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, drum
Drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...
s, dingaling bell
Bell (instrument)
A bell is a simple sound-making device. The bell is a percussion instrument and an idiophone. Its form is usually a hollow, cup-shaped object, which resonates upon being struck...
, accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
and an ass
Donkey
The donkey or ass, Equus africanus asinus, is a domesticated member of the Equidae or horse family. The wild ancestor of the donkey is the African Wild Ass, E...
's jaw
Jaw
The jaw is any opposable articulated structure at the entrance of the mouth, typically used for grasping and manipulating food. The term jaws is also broadly applied to the whole of the structures constituting the vault of the mouth and serving to open and close it and is part of the body plan of...
bone
Bone
Bones are rigid organs that constitute part of the endoskeleton of vertebrates. They support, and protect the various organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells and store minerals. Bone tissue is a type of dense connective tissue...
played by running a stick up and down the teeth.
Mestizo music
Mestizo culture in north and west Belize, and also GuatemalaGuatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
, is characterised by marimba
Marimba
The marimba is a musical instrument in the percussion family. It consists of a set of wooden keys or bars with resonators. The bars are struck with mallets to produce musical tones. The keys are arranged as those of a piano, with the accidentals raised vertically and overlapping the natural keys ...
, a xylophone
Xylophone
The xylophone is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets...
-like instrument descended from an African instrument
Musical instrument
A musical instrument is a device created or adapted for the purpose of making musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the...
. Marimba bands use trap drums, double bass
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
and sometimes other instruments. Famous performers include Alma Belicena and the Los Angeles Marimba Band. In Benque Viejo Del Carmen, the Los Angeles Marimbas were owned by the Castellanos family, whose patriarch, Ernesto Castellanos was both musician and master marimba maker. They gave scheduled weekend performances at the Los Angeles Club (also owned by the Castellanos Family) on Church Street in Benque Viejo Del Carmen. Although Alma Belicena was known as the mobile marimba band who participated in many events around the country, their variety of music was limited to cultural styles. Los Angeles Marimbas on the other hand remained fixed in their own home, rarely making external appearances, yet they were so skilled and diversified in music genres that actually listening to them was a treat and perfect marimba experience.
Kriol Music
Among the most popular styles created by KriolBelizean Kriol people
The Belizean Creoles, locally known as Kriols, are Creole descendants of English and Scottish log cutters, as well as Black African slaves brought to Belize. Other small minorities include Creoles and the Miskito from Nicaragua, Jamaicans, and other West Indians who assisted in the logging...
musicians is brukdown
Brukdown
Brukdown is a genre of Belizean music. Its best-known performer and innovator, Wilfred Peters is regarded as a Belizean national icon. The word brukdown may come from broken down calypso, referring to the similarities between brukdown and Trinidadian calypso music; the presence of large numbers...
. Brukdown
Brukdown
Brukdown is a genre of Belizean music. Its best-known performer and innovator, Wilfred Peters is regarded as a Belizean national icon. The word brukdown may come from broken down calypso, referring to the similarities between brukdown and Trinidadian calypso music; the presence of large numbers...
evolved out of the music and dance of loggers, especially a form called buru
Buru
Buru is the third largest island within Maluku Islands of Malay Archipelago. It lies between the Banda Sea to the south and Seram Sea to the north, west of Ambon and Seram islands. The island belongs to Maluku province of Indonesia and includes the Buru and South Buru regencies...
. Buru was often satirical in nature, and eventually grew more urban, accompanied by a donkey's jawbone, drum
Drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...
s and a banjo
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
. The word brukdown may come from broken down calypso, referring to the similarities between brukdown and Trinidad
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...
ian calypso music
Calypso music
Calypso is a style of Afro-Caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago from African and European roots. The roots of the genre lay in the arrival of enslaved Africans, who, not being allowed to speak with each other, communicated through song...
; the presence of large numbers of Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
ns in Belize also led to an influence from mento
Mento
Mento is a style of Jamaican folk music that predates and has greatly influenced ska and reggae music. It has its roots in calypso and other Jamaican folk music. Mento typically features acoustic instruments, such as acoustic guitar, banjo, hand drums, and the rhumba box — a large mbira in the...
music.
In modern forms, new instruments have been added to brukdown. The "boom and chime groups" use bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, electric guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
and conga
Conga
The conga, or more properly the tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed Cuban drum with African antecedents. It is thought to be derived from the Makuta drums or similar drums associated with Afro-Cubans of Central African descent. A person who plays conga is called a conguero...
s, for example. Popular brukdown groups include The Tigers, The Mahogany Chips, Mimi Female Duet and Brad Pattico http://www.bjmjr.com/afromestizo/belize.htm. Brukdown remains a rural, rarely recorded genre.
Garifuna music
The Garifuna (also called Garinagu) are descended from escaped Island Caribs who were deported from St. VincentSaint Vincent (island)
Saint Vincent is a volcanic island in the Caribbean. It is the largest island of the chain called Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. It is located in the Caribbean Sea, between Saint Lucia and Grenada. It is composed of partially submerged volcanic mountains...
to Central America (especially Honduras
Honduras
Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...
and also Belize
Belize
Belize is a constitutional monarchy and the northernmost country in Central America. Belize has a diverse society, comprising many cultures and languages. Even though Kriol and Spanish are spoken among the population, Belize is the only country in Central America where English is the official...
) in 1802 by the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
when they conquered St. Vincent. The Garifunas kept themselves apart from the social system then dominant, leading to a distinctive culture that developed throughout the 20th century.
Forms of Garifuna folk music and dance encompass many styles including: punta, hungu-hungu, combination, wanaragua, abaimahani, matamuerte, laremuna wadaguman, gunjai, charikanari, sambai, charikanari, eremuna egi, paranda, berusu, punta rock, teremuna ligilisi, arumahani, and Mali-amalihani. Punta
Punta
Punta is a Garifuna music and dance style performed at celebrations and festive occasions. Contemporary punta, including Belizean punta rock, arose in the last thirty years of the twentieth century in Belize, Honduras and Guatemala. It also has a following in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Southern Mexico...
and Punta rock
Punta rock
Punta rock or Belizean punta is a form of the traditional punta rhythm of the Garifuna people of Honduras, Belize and Guatemala.Punta rock is distinctive from traditional punta in that the language and concepts are more adapted to the general Belizean identity...
are the most popular forms of dance music in Garifuna culture. Punta is performed around holidays and at parties, and other social events. Punta lyrics are usually composed by the women. Chumba and hunguhungu
Hunguhungu
Hunguhungu or fedu is a form of traditional swaying circular dance performed by the women of the Garifuna people of Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatemala. The music for the dance is composed of rhythmic themes performed by three drummers with alternating call-and-response chanting, and displays...
are circular dances in a three beat rhythm, which are often combined with punta. There are other songs typical to each gender, women having eremwu eu
Eremwu eu
Eremwu eu is a work song sung by women as they make cassava bread, as part of the Garifuna music tradition of Honduras.- External links :* http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/afburns/afrotrop/Garifuna.htm...
and abaimajani, rhythmic a cappella
A cappella
A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
songs, and laremuna wadaguman, men's work song
Work song
A work song is a piece of music closely connected to a specific form of work, either sung while conducting a task or a song linked to a task or trade which might be a connected narrative, description, or protest song....
s.
Drums play a very important role in Garifuna music. There are primarily two types of drums used:
1. The Primero (tenor drum)
2. The Segunda (bass drum)
These drums are typically made of hollowed-out hardwood such as mahogany or mayflower, with the skins coming from the peccary (wild bush pig), deer, or sheep.
Also used in combination with the drums are the sisera. These shakers are made from the dried fruit of the gourd tree, filled with seeds, then fitted with hardwood handles.
In contemporary Belize there has been a resurgence of Garifuna music, popularized by musicians such as Andy Palacio, Mohobub Flores, & Adrian Martinez. These musicians have taken many aspects from traditional Garifuna music forms and fused them with more modern sounds in a style described as a mixture of punta rock and paranda. One great example is Andy Palacio's album "Watina," released on the Belizean record label "Stone Tree Records."
Modern music
Belize's musical base has expanded considerably in recent years with the addition of local reggaeReggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
, Hip Hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
, hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
, metalcore
Metalcore
Metalcore is a subgenre of heavy metal combining various elements of extreme metal and hardcore punk. The name is a portmanteau of the names of the two genres. The term took on its current meaning in the mid-1990s, describing bands such as Earth Crisis, Deadguy and Integrity...
and dancehall
Dancehall
Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s. In the mid-1980s, digital instrumentation became more prevalent, changing the sound considerably,...
stars.
Various metalcore
Metalcore
Metalcore is a subgenre of heavy metal combining various elements of extreme metal and hardcore punk. The name is a portmanteau of the names of the two genres. The term took on its current meaning in the mid-1990s, describing bands such as Earth Crisis, Deadguy and Integrity...
and hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
bands are scattered around the country (with most in districts with a higher Mestizo population such as the north and Cayo), and there has even been a rock and metal revival, with annual festivals and rock music programs on local radio.
There has also been a noticeable influence of EDM
EDM
EDM may also refer to:In information technology:* Electronic direct marketing, another term for E-mail marketing* Electronic Direct Mail*Electronic document management, the tracking and storage of electronic documents...
in the country, mostly among youths, with house music
House music
House music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino American, and gay communities; first in Chicago circa 1984, then in other...
and dubstep
Dubstep
Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in south London, England. Its overall sound has been described as "tightly coiled productions with overwhelming bass lines and reverberant drum patterns, clipped samples, and occasional vocals"....
being prominent. Many have become disc jockeys with few becoming producers
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
.
However, despite the many growing rock and electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
scenes, commercial pop music
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
from the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, and modern dancehall artists from Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
(Vybz Kartel
Vybz Kartel
Adidja Palmer , better known as Vybz Kartel, is a Jamaican dancehall artist, songwriter and businessman. He has many nicknames, including Addi Teacher and Gaza Emperor.-Biography:...
, Mavado
Mavado
Mavado may refer to:*Mavado *Mavado, a character in the Mortal Kombat series...
) still remain the most popular forms of music among young Belizeans.
Belizean Artists
Some notable Belizean artists are:- Andy PalacioAndy PalacioAndy Vivian Palacio was a Belizean Punta musician and government official. He was also a leading activist for the Garínagu and their culture.-Biography:...
- Chico Ramos
- Bella Carib
- Paul Nabor
- ILYA Rosado a.k.a "ILLA-G"
- Lloyd & Reckless
- Punta Rebels
- Mr. Peters Boom & Chime
- Lord Rhaburn
- Lela Vernon
- Santino's Messengers
- Bobbo Youth
- Aaron "Bruno" Arana
- Jon Santos, singer of the band "Fallzone"
- Bobby Amaru, singer of the band "Burn Season"
External links
- Belize Music Blog - Contains news, articles and updates about belizean music and artists
- BBC Radio 3 Audio (60 minutes): Andy Palacio and the Garifuna. Accessed November 25, 2010.
- BBC Radio 3 Audio (60 minutes): Son Jarocho and the Malinto choir. Accessed November 25, 2010.