Warasa Garifuna Drum School

  • Malate Isien (Worthless Love)

    Malate Isien is one of the most popular traditional Garifuna songs.  It is a catchy Paranda song, and as with many Garifuna songs, it relates to daily life.  In this case, it is giving advice about love.   It was originally written by Bernard “Gabaga” Williams.  Our group also regularly perform this song. There are…

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  • The Lord’s Prayer in Garifuna

    The Lord’s Prayer in Garifuna is beautiful. Even if you are not a Christian or not even a religious person, you will enjoy watching and listening to this Garifuna version of the Lord’s Prayer.  You can learn the lyrics and meaning of another classic Garifuna song, “Malate Isien”, here. Lafureidun Aburemei Waguchi Bungiu, lidan sun…

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  • Dügü – Garifuna Spirituality

    Here is a wonderful first-hand narrative of one women’s experience of Garifuna spirtuality in 1996 taken from http://judylumb.com/dugu.html. An Extended Family Reunion I was honoured to be invited to a Garifuna dügü by my friend, Sebastian Cayetano (Sab), because it is a private family affair, not a cultural event to which the public is invited.…

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  • Small Business Struggles in Belize

    NOTICE: I have amended this from the original post, as the issue has been resolved honourably with the Facebook page in question.  However I think it is good to leave it up in some form, so that people become more aware of copyright laws and intellectual property rights. I have previously written about some of…

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  • Hard-Work and Hammocks: Belize Work Culture

    Some visitors to Belize may leave with the illusion that many of its residents are, shall we say, under-worked.  Stores that close for two-hour lunch breaks, people lounging around in hammocks in the middle of the day, people that extend even the Belizean definition of “right now” to seemingly endless stretches of time.  Belize work…

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  • A Chronology of Muddy Walks

    Things have moved on…I have graduated from daily chicken bus runs to the Belizean “Banana Belt” to monthly muddy walks to Machakilha Mayan village, and our drum school has been promoted from a small, cluttered spare bedroom in a rented house to a beautiful thatch palapa behind our very own house that we designed and…

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  • Observations from A Belizean Bus

    I spend four hours a day, five days a week sitting on a Belizean bus on the commute between my home town of Punta Gorda and the “banana belt” villages where I work.  If it wasn’t for my finely honed ability to sleep anywhere, anytime, I’m not sure I could handle it. Those who have…

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  • Belize time – I’ll do it right now….

    Since moving to Belize, if I need something done urgently, and someone tells me they’ll do it “right now”, I get an uncanny sinking feeling in my stomach.  In Belize time, “right now” can be roughly translated as meaning “at some indefinite, potentially distant time in the future”.  It certainly doesn’t mean “now”. The time…

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  • Better step back cos I might pee on you!

    So concludes the sign in front of one of the tapirs at Belize Zoo…   I recommend everyone that comes to Belize visits the Zoo, because it’s great fun, the animals are all in their natural habitat, there is no cement or perspex (so your paws are your own responsibility!), and it’s the only guaranteed…

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  • What’s in a name?

    Considering the name of my husband, I feel an entry on the general inventiveness of Belizean names is apt.  There is no McDonald’s restaurant in Belize (in fact there are no chains at all), and so Ray has not suffered too much as a result of his name, but there is a reason he introduces…

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