Singer puts collection on CD

There was a time not too long ago when if a musician wanted to take his or her music to the public, it meant travelling to Miami to cut a record. The introduction of cassette tapes and high-speed dubbing made the process cheaper and easier to accomplish locally. Today, with digital multitrack recorders and CD burners built into many home computers, the climate for aspiring recording artists has never been friendlier. So it was not surprising when thirty-year-old Raymond “Hamma” Gomez dropped by our studios on Monday to talk about Garabali. This latest CD is a remix of songs Gomez has produced on cassette over the past ten years.

Raymond “Hamma” Gomez, Musician

“I picked September because many Belizean Americans will be here and when they go back they will remember. It’s Garifuna and when nineteenth [of November, Garifuna Settlement Day] comes around they will remember, oh! Hamma brought out a pure Garifuna music, so this is the time when we would use the CD. It’s September, but I’m looking more towards November. I wanted it to come out for September.”

“I love the Garifuna culture and through Garifuna music, that’s where everything starts. If you are going to bake cassava bread there’s music, if you are gonna cook a meal there’s music. So that’s why I just love Garifuna music, because of the culture.”

Garabali is available at A and R for only ten dollars.