Belizean Wins a Grammy

The 2015 Grammy Awards ceremony was held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California on Sunday before a packed audience of A-list celebrities.  Kanye West’s now infamous post-show rant soundly criticizing the academy for awarding Beck ‘Album of the Year’ over Beyonce’s self-titled record, continues to buzz on social media.  But it’s Belizean instrumentalist Michael Hyde who is basking in the local spotlight tonight, having received his second award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences for his contribution to reggae music.  The sibling of renowned disc jockey Elden ‘Stone Jam’ Hyde has been a member of Ziggy Marley’s band for a number of years and on Sunday night the musicians picked up another Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album.

Michael Hyde, Grammy Award Winner

“This is my first that I’m holding right here and just this past Sunday I won a second for the last Ziggy Marley CD.  It’s called Fly Rasta and that’s my second, you know, I probably had more in the past years ago, you know, but I didn’t really keep up with it.  This and the second one is the first that I am paying attention to because I was too busy focusing on the music and the development, you know.  But the Grammy is good because it’s just to show people your body of work and, you know, everything that you have done over the years and it all comes together and this represents that.  For me it’s pretty much like, you know, just another part of my whole career that I’ve been doing for the last thirty plus years.  So I’m not that excited but it’s good to have it because I’ve done much more than a Grammy.  The Grammy is just an extension of what I did over the last thirty plus years.”

Michael Hyde

Isani Cayetano

“In terms of the development of Belizean music, based on an observation of yours, where do you see Belizean music going in terms of where it comes from, where it presently is and the future of Belizean music seeing as though you are a son of the soil?”

Michael Hyde

“Belize’s music is just like any other music from my observation because I’ve traveled in many different places and countries like China, Japan, Brazil, Europe, Africa, Indonesia, Philippines, Tahiti and everywhere that I go the music pretty much has its native music and it has the music that is more commercial and Belize has everything.  Pretty much all we need is just the exposure to the rest of the world and that’s the only thing that we don’t have.  But with technology and the internet and all the whole possibilities that’s changing.”

Belizean Grammy Award winner, Michael Hyde, resides in Los Angeles, California.