Category: Living in Belize
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 works – there is a particularly up-tempo Garifuna punta song that is all about when…
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 there are definitely many things that I still don’t know about or don’t understand about…
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 drumming. Living in Belize for several years has a strange affect on your dancing style…
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 what the words to the song he is listening to means, or something else about…
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 family to drum for any event above any other local group. As Ludwig Palacio, local…
Even if she’s green, she’s still your auntie
A few months ago, Ray and I were at his uncle’s house watching (me) and helping (Ray) make a drum. I was perched on the edge of another future drum. Ray’s dad Mario was also there. Everyone was taking a few minutes rest from the hot Belizean sun. A little boy came running into the…
The Never-Ending Story
After a few months of listening to Ray and his family play drums almost every weekend, I still knew very little about Garifuna drumming and music. One night Ray’s dad, Mario, carried a tape recorder to the bar, and I was given the job of recording them play. On playing it back, Mario asked me…
Living life to the beat of my own drum: beginnings
When I left Scotland on my first long-term overseas adventure, my good friend Linda wrote me a goodbye and good luck card which I have carried with me ever since. In amongst many lovely things she wrote, she said I “live life to the beat of my own drum”. I wonder if she’s an unwitting…