From Brixton ‘Bananas’ to PG Plantain
The first time I ate a plantain was when I lived in Brixton, London, five minutes’ walk away from Electric Avenue market. I had bought a large banana, but it didn’t want to peel properly, and it was a weird…
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Mundian to Bach Ke (Ronald McDonald vs. Punjabi MC)
I have a terrible singing voice. I love to sing, but only in private when (I think) nobody is listening. Ray has a good overall singing voice and a great Garifuna singing voice: Garifuna songs don’t require you to be…
How to shake your arse (Belize style)
Go to any bar with live music at night in Belize, and you will witness the dominant form of Belizean dancing, which like the dominant form of Belizean music (Punta rock), originates from traditional Garifuna culture. That is, it involves…
Yurumein: The story of the Garifuna
Every year on 19th November, Ray, his family, and pretty much every Garifuna person in Belize (plus lots of other interested Belizeans and visitors) will attend their local “Yurumein” on the national holiday known as Garifuna Settlement Day, the anniversary…
He-He-Hey! Sucking Teeth & Pointing Lips
I’ve lived in a few different countries in my life, and in each one, I have learned the specific cultural gestures and sounds that are used to communicate on a daily basis. In South Korea, people would make a “hol”…
Drums of the ancestors
Listening to many Garifuna songs, they are very up-tempo. My Scottish indie-rock loving music tastes assumed that they must therefore be quite cheerful – maybe about catching lots of tasty fish a particular day. But that’s not how Garifuna music…
Belizean Blue Crab Syndrome
I will most probably always be considered an outsider in Belize, but I think that is the case in almost any country you emigrate to where you stick out either due to your accent, skin colour, background or otherwise. And…
Ronald McDonald learns to ceilidh
According to Ray, I dance to everything the same way. I admit I’m not the world’s greatest dancer, but I know for a fact that I definitely do not dance to Teenage Kicks the same way I dance to Ray’s…
Such stuff as dreams are made on
The one thing Ray never gets tired of is talking about his music and culture. In private, he is often a very quiet person, but if I want to get him talking, all I have to do is ask him…
The Drum Whisperer
Ray is famous in PG for his drumming. He may never have one the annual “Battle of the Drums” competition in PG (clearly the judges aren’t in their correct minds), but anyone that loves drumming will hire Ray and his…