The Garifuna Collective tours Europe

Keeping the Garifuna culture and music alive…that is the mission of the Garifuna Collective who for the past couple of years have been performing various styles of Garifuna music locally and internationally. Six years ago, the collective, along with Andy Palacio ruled the world stage with Watina and in July of this year, launched a second Album, Ayo. The album was taken on a North American Tour this summer and by popular demand, the group will now head to Europe. Duane Moody reports.

Duane Moody, Reporting

Ayo, the recently released album of the Garifuna Collective has been picking up traction in the international music circuit.  The group of artists—vocalists, drummers, percussionist—have recently returned to the jewel from a tour in North America where they were featured in thirty-eight festivals in over twenty-five cities. Ayo is a tribute to the late Andy Palacio.

Adrian Martinez

Adrian Martinez, Male Vocalist, Garifuna Collective

“The success has been great so far. For the first part of the tour, we went to Canada and the U.S. and it was great. We had fun; people enjoyed the music, we sold a lot of records of the new album Ayo and here we are again today. We are about to go to Europe to promote the album as well.”

And today, they left on a mission to promote Ayo overseas once again…this time in Europe. And a feature of this trip is their new video release, Ubou which when translated means world.

Joshua Arana

Joshua Arana, Drummer, Garifuna Collective

“Just like everything else, everything has its own process, everything takes time. We have very committed members who are a part of this group so everything seems effortless but a lot of time is taken to make sure that everything works out.”

Duane Moody

“This tour that you are going on, I see that from the twenty-eighth to the sixth—different locations. Are you guys ready to take on this tour?”

Desiree Diego, Female Vocalist, Garifuna Collective

Desiree Diego

“Yeah well we ready. Like you see, we are all here all hype up and ready to go and represent Belize and we are doing that to the best of our ability. We ask all the ancestors that are gone before us to stand beside us and give us that strength to keep up the good work and put Garifuna out there.”

According to bassist and road manager of the group, Al Ovando, the purpose of the Garifuna Collective and the work that they have been doing both locally and internationally is to keep the Garifuna culture alive.

Al Ovando

Al Ovando, Bassist and Road Manager, Garifuna Collective

“That’s the main purpose of the band; it is the mission of the band…it’s Andy Palacio legacy. It is the group, the Garifuna Collective, it is what we are all about: pushing Belizean music, taking the music to the world and take it to the best and delivering it for the first time in certain countries like Poland and Czech Republic…going back to Switzerland, the Netherlands; France, Paris, London—we play in London Saturday night. So it’s the same audience, same vibe, same spirit from Belize; the sound of Belize and the Garifuna Collective mission continuing.”

Ivan Duran, of Stonetree Records, several years ago, took on Andy Palacio and Watina. In 2007, Palacio went on to win several awards including world music award and named UNESCO’s Artist for Peace as well as a Womex Award. Will it be déjà vu with Ayo and the Garifuna Collective?

Ivan Duran, Stonetree Records

Ivan Duran

“This process actually started more than ten years ago in 1999 with Mister Paul Nabor, Andy Palacio, Adrian Martinez, Lugua Centeno, Aurielo Martinez…the list goes on and on. So although you see seven on the road right now. The collective is huge in terms of the amount of people who have collaborated towards this project. So this mission isn’t even just about one band. It is about a whole movement of paranda music coming out from Belize. The world identifies this music as coming from Belize and it is something that we all feel extremely proud. We are hoping for great things to happen with the collective. We’ve been getting great reviews from this new album, Ayo. Currently the album is at number two on the world music charts in Europe as they start this new tour. So hopefully we’ll get to number one next month…we’ll know in a few days. And the journey continues. And that’s not the end, it’s just the beginning really.”

Duane Moody for News Five.