Music icon Wilfred Peters laid to rest

The nation held its collective breath last Thursday when news came that the King of Brukdong, Mister Wilfred Peters, had passed away. On Sunday night, musicians and friends celebrated his life with a concert at his home. Today following a fitting official funeral in his honor, he was laid to rest. The streets were lined up by thousands of Belizeans who viewed the procession and simply wanted to pay tribute to the man who kept the Creole tradition alive.  Hundreds others filled St John’s Cathedral in downtown Belize City. News Five’s Isani Cayetano has a report on Mister Peters’ farewell.

Diane Haylock, President, NICH

“Mister Peters was virtually born with an accordion in his hands.  Both his parents played the accordion and the guitar and his father taught all his children to play as well.  Listening to Mister Peters talk about his life and his family transported you back to the days when mahogany was king in Belize; when as he put it, Belize Creole had no access to radios.”

Isani Cayetano, reporting

The life of renowned performer Wilfred Peters was celebrated by family and friends this morning inside St. John’s Cathedral as they bid farewell to one of Belize’s musical idols.  Before the official service got underway the gathering of mourners was entertained with live music played by Peters’ Boom and Chime who ran through a list of his popular numbers.

The congregation of politicians, fellow musicians and fans of Bruk Down music paid homage to a man who can only be described as larger than life.

Diane Haylock, President, N.I.C.H.

diane haylock

“Wherever he went, wherever he played he was a big hit. In 1997 Mister Peters was awarded an M.B.E. by Queen Elizabeth II for his outstanding work and cultural contributions.  Without arrogance, without any pretensions Mister Peters referred to himself as the king of Boom and Chime because as he put it “I da simply di best one.  I da simply di best when it comes to Boom and Chime music.”  We wholeheartedly agree with him.”

During the tribute his granddaughter Shernadine performed a moving rendition of Luther Vandross’ ‘Dance With My Father’.  The casket was then draped with the Belizean flag before being carried out of the cathedral by officials of the Belize Defense Force.  On Albert Street shortly before noon, spectators lined both sidewalks to say their goodbyes to the king as the march passed by.

Isani Cayetano

“The funeral procession of legendary musician and cultural icon Wilfred Peters has drawn a throng of spectators as it made its way through the principal streets of Belize City unto the Lord Ridge Cemetery where his body will be laid to rest.”

The formalities continued at the grave site as wreaths were laid on the coffin by various dignitaries while B.D.F. officers fired the twenty-one gun salute.  Despite his popularity and acclaim as a musician Peters’ family remembers him as a loving father figure, an ordinary man with an extraordinary personality.

wilfred peters

Lexia Garnett, Granddaughter

“He was a very family oriented person.  Half his family deh da L.A. and half his family here but still it’s like one big, happy family you know.  And every time he would visit he would make it a point to stay with his kids even though they would want to put him up in a hotel and you know.  He always, he always stayed with us and cherished that time he had with us.”

The greater society will remember Peters as a stalwart of the Creole culture.  His life as the story has been told time after time was devoted to the preservation of being Belizean.

Myrna Manzanares, President, National Creole Council

“The life of Mister Peters epitomizes a lot of the things in our culture and he is always representing us.  It’s unfortunate that a lot of people didn’t really understand what he was all about.  Man he talk, ih live ih culture, ih language noh matta where he go that’s what he speaks and he wasn’t ever ashamed of it and I think you want people to understand no matter what culture you’re from, no matter what language you have be proud of who you are and only try to make it the best possible.”

Egbert Bethran Jr. was a student of Peters who taught him how to perfect using the horse’s jawbone as a musical instrument.

Egbert Bethran Jr.

“I decided to pick up the tradition because from I small all these instruments that Mr. Peters had stay at my house.  I have opportunities to touch each and every one of them instruments and the only instrument I neva did learn dah di accordion and the marimba.  Ah gah the chance fi play the marimba and ah got the chance fi play di accordion and all the instruments and ah did neva get fi play the accordion weh ah really feel that way right now yoh know.”

Bethran replaces his father in the Boom and Chime Band and hopes to carry on the legacy of Mister Peters. Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.

Wilfred Peters was born on April fifteenth 1931 and died on June ninth.