Umalali in concert at the Bliss

If you have not heard of the Umalali project you have missed a great cultural experience. Umalali first came to prominence through the legendary and deceased Andy Palacio. When translated Umalali means voice and the project is about a group of women from Belize, Honduras and Guatemala that came together with Stonetree Records and produced a brilliant and one of a kind CD that takes listeners through a cultural journey. The group’s tour started in April of this year and according to Producer of the Project, Ivan Duran, Umalali will perform only for a second time in Belize this weekend to close a whirlwind tour overseas that placed them in World Music Charts.

Ivan Duran, Producer, Umalali Project
“It’s a concert that will feature over fifteen musicians and singers on stage. It’s a concert that will perform most of the songs on the Umalali CD which many people are familiar with it and also we will have a section devoted to the memory of Andy Palacio our dear friend and band leader for all these years. So we’re gonna be performing some special songs in his memory off the Watina CD.”

Deserie Diego, Member, Umalali
“I must say I’m proud to be one of the women on the project and that the music that we are doing are songs that are composed mostly by women and the songs are songs that happens to us in our daily lives.”

Ivan Duran
“All this is to support these women that have such a great talent and they have this very special voice that has rarely been heard. Usually you see mostly male artists that have been taking up the spotlight but the fact that in Garifuna culture it has been the women all along have been responsible for not only composing most of the songs, but actually responsible for transmitting several important aspects of the culture—the language the dances, the other traditions. So this project wants to highlight all that and give the respect to these wonderful women.”

The Umalali Concert is being held in collaboration with NICH in celebration of Garifuna Settlement Day. The show starts tomorrow at eight p.m. at the Bliss and tickets are also available at CY’s Music. General admission is fifteen dollars and reserved seats at thirty.