Umalali Women lead Garifuna Collective on Tour
The powerful voices that make up the Garifuna Collective have wooed audiences worldwide since they started touring in 1996. This Saturday the group sets out on their second trip to Canada. The first Canadian tour was back in 2007 with Andy Palacio, but this time round the Umalali Women singers will take the spotlight. Since Andy’s death, the group has continued in his legacy and performed in over twenty countries. According to producer, Ivan Duran, this three week tour will highlight how the women have grown from guest artists to star performers.
Ivan Duran, Organizer, Garifuna Collective Canadian Tour
“What inspired the tour was the fact that a lot of the festivals that had Andy on stage were very, very impressed and they wanted to feature more Garifuna music. This time around, even though we’re going with the same band members, we’re featuring the women, which is Umalali Women Singers. So it will be a slightly different program and basically we’re just continuing what Andy started years ago, which is promoting the music internationally.”
Delahnie Bain
“Okay what areas will you be stopping in?”
Ivan Duran
“Well, the tour goes from coast to coast actually. They’re gonna land in Toronto tomorrow and they’re gonna do their first show there at the Harbour Front Festival and then they’re going to London, Ontario, they’re going to Montreal, then they’re flying all the way to Vancouver and then they’re coming back to Calgary, which is in the middle of Canada. So they’re pretty much going to be crisscrossing the country.”
“It’s the Garifuna Collective featuring the Umalali Women Singers and also featuring Lloyd Augustine, which is one of our new talents that basically has stepped up to the plate and in the band. I mean right now he’s performing a lot of the songs that Andy used to perform; songs from the Watina album.”
Desiree Diego, Lead Singer Umalali Women Singers
“Well, people must expect or should expect the voices of the women because that is what is being featured on this tour, the Umalali.”
Delahnie Bain
“What all music will you be performing?”
Desiree Diego
“We’ll be performing music like Offah Ya. We’ll be perfuming music like Singe Singe which Meruwa and a couple of Garifuna cultural music which is more traditional to us.”
Delahnie Bain
“What has it been like so far being on tour with the group?”
Desiree Diego
“I must say it’s a pleasure and I enjoy every bit of it.”
The group returns to Belize on July twenty-eighth.
