Belize is a country on the north-eastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a water boundary with Honduras to the southeast. It has an area of 22,970 square kilometres (8,867 sq mi) and a population of 441,471 (2022). Its mainland is about 290 km (180 mi) long and 110 km (68 mi) wide. It is the least populated and least densely populated country in Central America. Its population growth rate of 1.87% per year is the second-highest in the region and one of the highest in the Western Hemisphere. Its capital is Belmopan, and its largest city is the namesake city of Belize City. Belize is often thought of as a Caribbean country in Central America because it has a history similar to that of English-speaking Caribbean nations. Belize's institutions and official language reflect its history as a British colony.
The Kalinago, also known as the Island Caribs or simply Caribs, are an Indigenous people of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean. They may have been related to the Mainland Caribs (Kalina) of South America, but they spoke an unrelated language known as Island Carib. They also spoke a pidgin language associated with the Mainland Caribs.
The music of Belize has a mix of Creole, Mestizo, Garìfuna, Mayan and European influences.
The Garifuna people are a people of mixed free African and indigenous American ancestry that originated in the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent and speak Garifuna, an Arawakan language, and Vincentian Creole.
Punta is an Afro-indigenous dance and cultural music originating in the Caribbean Island of Saint Vincent And The Grenadines by the Garifuna people before being exiled from the island. Which is also known as Yurumei. It has African and Arawak elements which are also the characteristics of the Garifuna language. Punta is the best-known traditional dance belonging to the Garifuna community. It is also known as banguity or bunda, before the first arrival of the Garifuna people in Punta Gorda, Roatan, Honduras on April 12, 1797.
Andy Vivian Palacio was a Belizean punta musician and government official. He was also a leading activist for the Garifuna people and their culture.
Danny Michel is a Canadian songwriter and producer.
Garifuna (Karif) is a minority language widely spoken in villages of Garifuna people in the western part of the northern coast of Central America.
Calypso Rose or Linda McCartha Monica Sandy-Lewis is a Trinidadian calypsonian. She started writing songs at the age of 13; over the years, she has composed more than 1000 songs and recorded more than 20 albums. Considered the "mother of calypso", Rose was the first female calypso star and her lyrics frequently address social issues like racism and sexism. Her influence over the calypso music genre forced the renaming of the Calypso King competition to the Calypso Monarch instead. In addition to writing songs about social issues, Rose is also an activist and was given the title of UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for former child soldiers along with performing at numerous events for social change. She has received every award available to living artists in the Caribbean.
Reportage is the working title of an unfinished album that English new wave band Duran Duran wrote and recorded as the intended follow-up to their 2004 reunion album Astronaut. After the departure of original guitarist Andy Taylor in 2006, the band decided to start over with a new batch of songs that became 2007's Red Carpet Massacre.
Belize, on the east coast of Central America, southeast of Mexico, was inhabited by the indigenous peoples who fought belize off the Spaniards in an attempt to preserve their heritage and
Belizeans are people associated with the country of Belize through citizenship or descent. Belize is a multiethnic country with residents of African, Amerindian, European and Asian descent or any combination of those groups.
Aurelio Martínez, professionally known as Aurelio, is a Honduran musician and politician. He is a singer, percussionist, and guitarist known for his Garifuna music and is considered a Cultural Ambassador of the Garifuna people. According to the Guardian, he became the leading Garifuna performer after the death of musician Andy Palacio.
Thomas Vincent Ramos, commonly known as T. V. Ramos, was a Belizean civil rights activist who promoted the interests of the Garifuna people, and is now considered a national hero.
Afro-Hondurans or Black Hondurans are Hondurans of Sub-Saharan African descent. Research by Henry Louis Gates and other sources regards their population to be around 1-2% as the official percentage, although the percentage of the actual number is as high as 10 percent. They descended from: enslaved Africans by the Spanish, as well as those who were enslaved from the West Indies and identify as Creole peoples, and the Garifuna who descend from exiled zambo Maroons from Saint Vincent. The Creole people were originally from Jamaica and other Caribbean islands, while the Garifuna people were originally from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Garifunas arrived in the late seventeen hundreds and the Creole peoples arrived during the eighteen hundreds. About 600,000 Hondurans are from Garífuna descent that are a mix of African and indigenous as of Afro Latin Americans. Honduras has one of the largest African community in Latin America.
Umalali: The Garifuna Women's Project is musical collection of stories, organized and produced by Ivan Duran. The album is built upon the voices of local women in Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatemala. The Garifuna people are residents of these countries' Caribbean coasts.
Wátina is the final album by Belizean musician, Andy Palacio, released in 2007 on the Cumbancha label. A member of the Garifuna people, Palacio utilizes grooves and melodies that are deeply rooted in Garifuna traditions. Backed by a multigenerational group of Garifuna players, Andy Palacio put together an album that gained massive success and spread Garifuna culture around the world. The album is seen as "a monumental tribute to the Garifuna of yesterday and tomorrow." The album reached #1 on the World Music Charts Europe in June 2007. Due to Wátina's success, Andy Palacio was named a UNESCO Artist for Peace and shared the 2007 WOMEX Award with Ivan Duran.
Garifuna in Peril is a low-budget independent fiction docufiction feature film directed, written, and produced by Alí Allié and Rubén Reyes. The film depicts historical and contemporary issues within the Garinagu Afro-Honduran indigenous community and features a cast of actors from Honduras and Belize.
Sofía Blanco is a Garifuna singer from Guatemala, widely recognized for her talent and efforts to promote the cultural traditions of her people. She has been a featured singer on several albums of Garifuna music, and has toured internationally with the Belizean group Garifuna Collective and Garifuna Women's performance band Umalali, one of the groups selected for performances at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
Iris Myrtle Palaciao is an educator and social planner from Belize. She is an advocate for Garifuna culture, and good governance in the public sector.
