Garifuna Collective and Umalali perform at Winter Olympics

The Garifuna Collective and the Umalali Women Singers are just back in Belize after a two week successful tour of North America. It’s an experience their producer, Ivan Duran of Stonetree Records, sees as a cultural exchange as the group continues to propel Garifuna music to the world. They toured for years with musical icon Andy Palacio and are carrying on his legacy wherever they take the spotlight. The group was chosen over hundreds of others around the globe to do performances at the Winter Olympics. News Five’s Delahnie Bain caught up with them as they returned to Belize City this afternoon.

Delahnie Bain, Reporting

The Garifuna Collective and the Umalali Women singers, touched down in Belize this afternoon after two weeks of performances in North America. We met them at the Bliss, still pumped with adrenaline from a very successful tour.

Desiree Diego, Singer, Umalali Women Singers

“For me di tour mi exciting; being more comfortable on stage and representing Belize that’s what we’re all about so for me it was good.”

Joshua Arana

Joshua Arana, Singer, Garifuna Collective

“The tour was great, the reception was much better than we expected. All in all, I think people are beginning to appreciate the music all over again now that Andy Palacio is out of the picture.”

Ivan Duran, Producer, Stonetree Records

“It was a different kind of tour because usually they perform in a lot of outdoor stages, mainly in summer festivals but this time of the year you can’t do shows outside in North America so most of the shows were indoors with seated audiences and I think they enjoyed it a lot. It was a new experience definitely.”

While the tour put the Belizean group before a new audience, it also took them to another level as they were chosen to perform at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Joshua Arana

“Our first performance was in Seattle and from Seattle we went to San Diego. From San Diego we went to San Gabrielle in California and then LA and then Chico California and then New Hampshire before we went to Vancouver for the Olympics.”

Ivan Duran

“The Garifuna Collective and Umalali was the only band playing at the winter Olympics and they were selected out of a large pool of artists from around the world to perform this thing called the Cultural Olympiad.”

But regardless of how far they go, the members of the Garifuna Collective and Umalali never forget where they started and the man who helped them to take their music to the world; the late Andy Palacio.

Joshua Arana

“There’s nobody like Andy Palacio and being on tour without him—every day, every performance is more difficult, it’s more emotional; not  only for myself but for Desire, Sophia, Marcella and all the other members of the band so it’s an honour to be on stage just performing his songs.”

Desiree Diego

Desiree Diego

“Ih very emotional fi me and mek it even worse dat Lloyd noh gone pan dis tour, I have to be di one fi do most ah di lead calling ah di songs so… sometimes I think about Andy and I would ah just want get off ah stage but I have to do it. Dah something ih lef fi mek wi carry on and dah wah heavy load but we wah back it.”

Ivan Duran

“They’re going to Mexico in April, they’re scheduled to Europe in July, they are recording a new album; it’s a tribute album to Andy Palacio, and so they’re gonna be quite busy in the coming months. I know from what I hear from they want to play more often in Belize.”

So keep your eyes and ears open for when the Garifuna Collective and the Umalali Women Singers are coming to a stage near you. Delahnie Bain for News Five.