Belizeans perform at New Orleans jazz fest
On Wednesday, two Belizeans will join their musical colleagues from all over Central America for the North American debut of La Orquesta de la Papaya. The unique musical group will perform for five days at the prestigious New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Today, News 5’s Stewart Krohn got a preview of what to expect.
Stewart Krohn, Reporting
Bredda David Obi and Mohobub Flores are two rock solid members of the fourteen-man Orquesta de la Papaya that will take centre stage in New Orleans on Tuesday. For Obi, the multi-national music group is the best thing to happen in a long, long time.
Bredda David Obi
“It’s like a gift. The band is a totally professional band, but let’s say ninety percent professional in the environment that I always would prefer to be in. And me and Mohobub, we go and do our part, we represent Belize on the highest level. As a matter of fact, the band noh want do nothing without us.”
And the two Belizeans are looking forward to the time of their lives.
Bredda David Obi
“Well based on our past experience of wherever we played in the past, every time we perform, we get invited to another level. And this is the proof of it right now, cause these jazz festivals is a big stage. Three hundred thousand people in attendance and you perform for over fifteen, twenty thousand people at any given time. I had the opportunity of going there before with Mr. Peters, but this is like totally on another level. I my mind, anything can happen after this show, because the quality is there, the musicianship is there, the professionalism is there, the idea, the concept is there. So anything could happen.”
But for Obi, what’s happening back home is not in keeping with the quality of music the band is producing.
Bredda David Obi
“In our country right now, it has been proven the strength and the force of what music can do. But in Belize, the media houses, mainly the radio stations I should say, for some reason the people that run these radio stations need to travel and little bit more and expose themselves to the reality of the power of music. They keep the people’s mind in a very narrow category of music. We listen to more music from other artist international-wise that is already big, than we listen to our own. It seems to be that the programme organisers for most the radio stations if not all, need to be exposed, need to be schooled, just like how you send out people for six or nine months training, on the importance of the development of culture and the role that music plays in it, so that they could understand that we need to play our Belizean music more.
“We have a wide spectrum of Belizean music now, Belizean music is not only one thing or two thing, we have from ranchero, we have Punta Rock, Kungo music, Brukdown music, we have ballads, we have jazz. We even have jazz bands that are playing a certain kind of level of music. So our programme organisers, they really need to open their minds a little bit more and play more of the Belizean music, even if it is a song like “Nagura Lay”. The CD is selling just because of that song in many cases. I myself have sold a lot of CDs because of that song.”
And that song is what the band hopes will win the hearts, minds and wallets of the Big Easy. Stewart Krohn for News 5.
The band, under the direction of Manuel Obregon, will perform at New Orleans University, various public schools and in the city of Lafayette, in addition to the festival venues of Congo Square and Snug Harbour Jazz Club.
