Music of Belize

Music of Belize

Belize is a small country in Central America, and its culture is a mix of Mestizo, Maya, Spanish, British and African influences. After many centuries of Mayan domination, Spanish and then British colonizers arrived in the area, the latter keeping Belize as its only colony in Spanish-dominated Central America. Far more influentially than either European power's arrival, however, was the importation of African slaves. Europeans brought polkas, waltzes, schottisches and quadrilles, 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, drums, dingaling bell, accordion and an ass' jaw bone played by running a stick up and down the teeth. Brukdown remains a rural, rarely recorded genre.

This article is part of the

Central American music series.

Belize

Costa Rica

El Salvador

Garifuna

Guatemala

Honduras

Nicaragua

Panama

Mestizo culture in north and west Belize, and also Guatemala, is dominated 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.

Orange Walk and Corozal include numerous mariachi players from Mexico,

Table of contents

1 Garifuna
2 External link
3 References

Garifuna

Main article: Garifuna music

The Garifunas are descended from slaves enslaved from Nigeria and who later escaped from St. Vincent. Eventually migrating to Belize in 1802, the Garifunas kept themselves apart from the social system then dominant, leading to a distinctive culture that developed throughout the 20th century. Punta is by the far most popular genre of Garifuna music and has become the most popular genre in all of Belize. It is distinctly Afro-Caribbean, and is sometimes said to be ready for international popularization like similarly-descended styles (reggae, calypso, merengue, etc).

External link

Garifuna mp3 bands

References

Graham, Ronnie. "Drum'n'Flute Legacies". 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), World Music, Vol. 2: Latin & North America, Caribbean, India, Asia and Pacific, pp 325-331. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books. ISBN 1-85828-636-0