Sauer etan ere ati Pa SIUM SESE TWO LUTI [eS PLERR T hs \ S ee Poe diy yyy ‘uewan: PUPAE M TELE Ro ei Cyrene: Sara eric erat reat Pa Pe atici) Sent Aes) nore ay 1NoS Global Ear A survey of sounds from around the planet This young Central American state is working hard to shape it unified national character. ing in atime without legends that can ino," wrote the American abstract inter Bernett Newman in is 1948 es Now", "how can we be creating For certain artets in th Central identity ut how da you ge about ereating that? The arts are ‘frequently the most effective vehicle or concentrating ‘a sense ofthe ‘national’, bu in an emerging post: colonial nation such as this, the lack of political diroction or even grassroots ownership ofthe body politic can work against that process, 20, which only gained independe 41981, could be considered a nation in ts infancy. ‘Shoehorned into Geral America and gazing ‘utiards tothe Caribbean, Belize, wit a footprint of approximately 23,000 square kilometres (roughly the ‘ize of Wales), holds a population of 300,000, half of whom vein rural settlements. ts melange of cultures ~ Creole, Garfuna, Mestizes, Maya (including Kekchi Mopan and Yucatec), Restafarans, East Indians And Mennonites, to name afew ~ ra muitcultraism and hybridity. Yet, whi or folk route canyons of begun totakeonan force behind this Burgeoning scen Records, which, ts founder lan Ouran proclaims, wae established more as a development project than as @ neers by accident, yet aan music? Duran for one, elaine country's musichas soul..tis enduring" Critical however the musics embryonic: It's roots music, st intho making.” ‘These roots emanate from various localities and ‘ethnic ines. The Gatfuna, whose roats go back to West Afica and the Arawak Indians of St Vincent in the Caribbean, have developed distinctive musical 46 | Their | Global Ear | Bet By David Crosbie Bi gerne ret cra styles, the most renowned of which are punta and arifuna and based on ananclent ty dance, punta has a binary ven by its primeo (tenor) and segundo (bass) drums and accompanied by the frenetic use of shakers. Reacting to how Garfuna culture remained unconscious in the national peyche in the 1980 while US musical influences began to permeate Belize, the likes of Pen Cayetano contributed to punta’ ovelution into punta rock, The sexualised energy of punta rock ~ exemplified by such artists as Super , Punta Rebels and Berne ~ incorporates synths and turtle shells into arfuna percussion, looping highpitched melodies ‘on rhythm guitar while keeping the bass low. The ‘other popular Garifuna rhythe, paranda is evident in ‘Southern Belize. Paranda's Latin rhythms, Gar ‘drums, heavy percussion, shakers and acoustic guitar ‘urn soulful strats ito elegiac harmonios. Influenced by its Latin neighbours, western towns fuse reggaeton and Caribbean soca, Emanating {rom Bolizean Mahogary camps, Brukdown is oan Creole music similar to Janaican mento ing acall and response rhythmis played with accordions, Belize in Creole and Rastafarian influences. 19 Crole dub poet Lerey Young (aka has fused these influences to provide a crtical ghetto volea, reacting the complex toracton of divarsity and ethnic separation inthe city. Throughout Belize, space and time operate outside of Western precepts This is mostovident when unraveling the Mayan cosmos, in which humans possess multiple identities and souls. The Mayan syston boioves ina fourth cimension which lenges the inertia ofthe self and instead offers ‘society where a communal authority, which rajects national idonttie, usee muse, among other sources, asa conduit to othernorldiness. ‘The Maya wore not uniquein accessing the soul to achieve the sublime, Paul Nabor, Blize’s mystical and legendary grandfather of paranda is 85 years old He's also dugu priest, whe channels sounds from the spirits and generates his congs from his dreams, The dry mud floor abode, which doubles as hs temple, symbolise the authenticity of Nabor's soul: reflocting a purity of spirit equired to converse with deceased ancestors Capturing this latent style, Andy Palacio ~a protégé of Nabar who wont onto become a punta ‘musician and Belizean Cultural Anbassador = switched the spiritual conversation of Nabor's paranda toa sound which instoad spoke to its people Palacio journeyed from punts rock to the refined 2008 album Watin, which received international acclaim from the ike of Le Monde and The Nw York Tines, Recorded entirely in Garifuna settlements, the album recreated a powerful sense of ‘Boize-ness', blonding folklore with enchantment. Fr the fiet tne, one horegrown Belize album spoke tothe collective consciousness ofits audience ~ a metaphysical oxpression of oneness. Sa early 2008, a year after Wat's Contrary to Mayan and Garifun abstraction, The Grandmaster articulates the frag and monotony of modern-day Caribbean life. is the country's poverty ture stabackcrop of suffocating, cic, Mayan song *Nothing But Love” questions society's displacement ofthe self. His album Just Like That (2003) conveys anguish at his country’s dependence on ai, the new imperialism of the post-colonial world. Belize has been sold off, before ‘the revolution could avon stat, Unlike its regional neighbours, this album didn't emerge from a 1970s Marxist coup. Independent of any revolution, The Grandmaster’s burning undertones fan the flames of Belize teetering on the brink ofa cultural explosion, Evident, 2s van Duran puts it, “musicis a developmental issue". There is unwilingness from both governnent and commercial interests to turn the handle on their own future, he insists, Spirituality remains tho principal, unquantifiable gift ofthis nation’s creative outpourings with music reflecting both the pain nd self-esteem ofits people. "Belize | continues unearthing its identity, it may yet create an art approaching sublinity. C0 stonetreerecords.com