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. Belize is a member of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), and is considered part of the Caribbean region and the historical British West Indies.
The Kalinago, also called 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.
Roger Andrew Taylor is an English musician, best known as the drummer of the new wave band Duran Duran from their inception until 1985, and again from 2001 onwards. Duran Duran have sold over 100 million records worldwide. Taylor was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in November 2022 as a member of Duran Duran.
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 Amerindian ancestry that originated in the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent and speak Garifuna, an Arawakan language, and Vincentian Creole.
Seven and the Ragged Tiger is the third studio album by the English pop rock band Duran Duran, released on 21 November 1983 through EMI and Capitol Records. Co-produced by Alex Sadkin, Ian Little and the band, recording sessions took place in France, the Caribbean and Australia between April and October 1983 following Duran Duran's decision to record outside the UK as tax exiles. Unlike their previous two studio albums, the sessions were marred by a lack of productivity and tensions rose between the band members over its direction.
Punta is an Afro-indigenous dance and cultural music of the Belizean & Honduran Garifuna people originating prior to their exile to Honduras from the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent And The Grenadines. 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 Honduran community. It is also known as banguity or bunda.
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 artist, 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.
Reportage is the working title of an unfinished album that English rock 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 off the Spaniards in an attempt to preserve their heritage and to avoid the fate of their neighbors who were conquered and under Spanish rule. While this was going on, British pirates would rob Spanish merchant ships and navigate through the shallow waters and small islands even going up river later to hide their bounty. The indigenous people of Belize did not resist the British like they did the Spanish. In the 17th century, however, the British settlement became a formal British crown colony from 1862 through 1964, where they first achieved self government and later in 1981 became an independent country recognized globally with all its territory intact. The British brought along with them slaves taken from Congo and Angola during the eighteenth century.
Belizeans are people associated with the country of Belize through citizenship or descent. Belize is a multiethnic country with residents of Ethnic groups of Amerindian, African, European, Asian and Middle-eastern descent or mixed race with 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%. 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 of 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. Wátina is considered an important piece of cultural preservation for a people group who find themselves sometimes in fear their that their culture is at risk of extinction. 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.
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.
