“Watina” is Palacio’s most ambitious music
In today’s climate of technological piracy and entertainment overload, for a musician to succeed financially in Belize is nearly impossible … and to make your mark on the global scene is about ten thousand times more difficult. But if there’s one Belizean who has that one-in-a-million shot it’s Andy Palacio, who today launched the C.D. that some folks say is the best to ever come out of the jewel. News 5’s Kendra Griffith reports.
Yasser Musa, President, NICH
“Today we come here to celebrate the presentation of a true craft, a music album remarkable and authentic in field.”
Kendra Griffith, Reporting
Today Belizeans were officially introduced to Watina, the long awaited album by Andy Palacio.
Andy Palacio, Musician
“We had to get it right and it was a matter of timing to have all the pieces fall together at the right time and this seems like just the perfect opportunity to release this to the world.“
With Watina, Andy Palacio veers from the Punta Rock that made him famous and delves into the heart and soul of Garifuna music.
Andy Palacio
“I have my fans who are used to me doing music in a certain style, who are used to me performing a certain way; it’s going to be interesting to test the reaction of my old audience and see if I gain a new audience and see if I will add that new audience to the audience that has been with me from the very beginning. Many people will agree that for most of my career I have been making music for the body and now it’s time to transcend and perhaps make something for the mind.”
And so far the audience likes what it is hearing.
Dr. Joseph Palacio
“The Watina CD has now infused a third quality in Garifuna music. It has taken Garifuna music to the next level, mainly that of the world music level. As world music, Watina is lovable to all Garinagu because of its unabashed roots tradition.”
Yasser Musa
“Of course what makes the album so special is the exotic instrumentation backing up the sound, which has the soul quotient imbedded in it.”
Ivan Duran, Producer
“I think this is the best album that we have produced for a very simple reason. It shows a maturity that none of the other albums reflect and what I mean by maturity, I mean musical maturity. It goes way beyond roots, way beyond tradition, but at the same time is as rooted as a modern album can be. So I am extremely happy.”
And it’s not only on the local scene that the album has been making a splash. Thanks to the marketing and distribution muscle of international labels, Putumayo and Cumbancha, Watina is climbing the World Music charts.
Ivan Duran
“We jumped to this opportunity because in the past we have been very successful here in Belize, we had gotten rave reviews outside, but we have never been able to actually get to a point where our albums were available everywhere and people could actually buy it in record stores in Europe or the U.S. Now, this album is being released in over a hundred countries.”
Produced by Ivan Duran’s Stonetree Records, Watina was five years in the making.
Ivan Duran
“The reason it took five years to make was because getting that balance was very difficult and one had many options when working in the studio, and getting that balance to me is the key to have a very good album and that took a while, it wasn’t that easy.”
“We rented a house by the beach in Hopkins, and everything you see here we actually took down to Hopkins, and we set up camp there for about four months and we just had fun making music and recording these tracks right there in Hopkins.”
Andy Palacio
“Making this album was a real pleasure because it gave me the opportunity to work with a number of Garifuna artists that I’ve always had the desire to collaborate with across generations. Nabor, Adrian, Reckless, Lloyd, Justo, Lugua, Aurelio, Sofia Blanco.”
Adrian “The Doc” Martinez, Musician
“This was a totally new a different experience for me because I was working with young people like myself and it was more like a playful thing not really looking at a direction. But it was until I start working with the All Stars that I start to learn from experience inna musicians like Andy Palacio, like Paul Nabor, you know the level of seriousness that they have, and I was able to capitalize on that and that inspired me to actually change even my mentality towards the music.”
Adrian Martinez and a number of other musicians now form the Garifuna Collective, a group of artists hailing from three countries: Belize, Guatemala and Honduras, and three generations…
Andy Palacio
“Which would be Nabor’s generation, my generation, and the next generation which would include younger musicians like Joshua Arana the Primero player, Adrian “the Doc” and Aurelio who is slightly younger than I am.”
“The Collective is really a concept…it’s a concept of a multi-generational experience in Garifuna music that we are presenting to the world and the Collective can and actually does go beyond ethnicity. There are people who are very active in the Collective who are not necessarily Garifuna.”
But while Watina provides food ears, it is also rich in cultural nutrition.
Andy Palacio
“One of my favourites is Amunegu, which is a serious song of reflection on the future survival of Garifuna culture. I am asking a number of questions and making the point that we cannot just leave these things to chance, that elements of the culture need to be taught in order for them to continue, lest we lose them altogether in times to come.”
Kendra Griffith reporting for News Five.
The Garifuna Collective will be touring this summer with dates in the U.S.A, Canada, South America and Europe. Duran’s Stonetree Records already has several other projects in the pipeline, including a Garifuna women’s album, and solo efforts from Aurelio Martinez and Grandmaster.
