On his people’s behalf
THERE’S a buoyant, lighthearted tropical quality to Andy Palacio’s music. Echoes of reggae, salsa, samba and calypso simmer beneath the surface of its infectious percussion. But the heart of the music, with its body-moving rhythms, pulses from a unique source -- the Garifuna culture of Belize.
Palacio, whose Garifuna Collective performs Saturday night at Grand Performances, is a dedicated ambassador of the music and culture he experienced while growing up in the coastal Belize village of Barranco.
“In its traditional forms,” he says, “Garifuna music is diverse in tempos and rhythmic patterns
based primarily on drumming and singing. A typical ensemble consists of a bass drum [segunda] player, a lead drum [primero] player, a maracas player, a lead singer and background singers for call-and-response-style singing.”
The elements, the rhythms and musical interaction reflect the ethnicity of Garifunan culture. There are several legendary histories of the origins of that culture -- none precisely documented, but all describing a descent from Amerindian and African peoples.
“The Garifuna language,” Palacio says, “has been characterized as a member of the Arawakan family of languages, which has its origins among the indigenous peoples of the Orinoco region of South America. I don’t know the extent of African survivals in the Garifuna language, but a significant French influence is evident in the vocabulary.”
All of which makes for a fascinating blend of elements -- which was at considerable risk of fading into history in the latter part of the 20th century.
Palacio’s eager desire to offset that trend by bringing Garifuna music to a wider audience initially led to a successful, pop-oriented synthesizer-driven modification called “punta rock.” But while participating in a Central American literacy campaign, he discovered that Garifuna culture and language were rapidly disappearing via assimilation. “It was difficult,” he notes, “to find anyone under 50 who could converse in the Garifuna language.” And he realized that pouring Garifuna music into the increasingly homogeneous gumbo of world music was counterproductive to his desire to preserve its traditional identity.
His new album, “Watina,” mixes acoustic and electric instruments in a fashion that remains true to traditional Garifunan music. The authenticity, as well as Palacio’s desire to bring young Garifunans back to their roots, is enhanced by the inclusion among the musicians of septuagenarian Paul Nabors and the youthful Aurelio Martinez.
But it is Palacio’s presence at the center of the music that brings everything alive. His warm, engaging voice soars over simmering paranda rhythms, trading back and forth, call-and-response phrases, reaching out to fully encompass the listener despite the utter unfamiliarity of the language.
“Performing with the Collective provides me with a forum for communication,” says Palacio, underscoring the surprising universality of music tracing to an obscure culture in a tiny Caribbean country. “The rhythms are [for the most part] lively and infectious. And, in many cases the melodies convey moods and themes with which people can generally identify. It’s a great feeling to be able to get these messages across using music as the medium.”
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Andy Palacio
What: Andy Palacio and the Garifuna Collective at Grand Performances
Where: California Plaza, 350 S. Grand Ave., L.A.
When: 8 p.m. Saturday
Price: Free
Info: (213) 687-2190 or www.grandperformances.org
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