www.cumbancha.com

Through his music, Andy Palacio hopes to halt the looming extinction of the Garifuna people. The forces of globalization have resulted in fewer children learning the language, performing the songs or memorizing the oral histories and stories that serve as the legacy of the Garifuna culture, a hybrid of West African and Native Caribbean heritage.

Palacio, who was born and raised in Barranco, Belize, grew up listening to traditional Garifuna music as well as imported sounds coming over the radio from neighboring Honduras, Guatemala, the Caribbean and the United States. An emotional reunion with a Garifuna elder led Palacio to follow his passion for his people's music, using it as a vehicle to promote the culture and to inspire young people to be proud of their heritage.

It was while working with a literacy project on Nicaragua's Atlantic Coast in 1980 that Palacio discovered that the Garifuna language and culture was steadily dying in that country, and he has worked tirelessly to bring attention to the plight of the Garifuna people and emerged as a serious music and cultural archivist with a deep commitment to preserving his culture.

At first, Palacio gained local and international fame as a performer of punta rock, an upbeat Garifuna dance music infused with synthetic beats and keyboards. He gained enormous popularity both in Belize and abroad, having played before audiences in the Caribbean, the Americas and Europe and Asia.    

But Ivan Duran, a Belizean musician and producer who founded Stonetree Records in 1995, convinced Palacio to shift his concentration from the music's commercial aspects to delve deeper into its soul and roots. It was then that a strong cultural awareness took hold and his approach to music became more defined.

Without the samplers, sequencers and instrumental backing tracks that he had become known for, Palacio is proud to take a "completely human experience onto the stage," producing a sound "without any artificial ingredients."

Duran and Palacio set out to create an all-star, multi-generational ensemble of Garifuna's best musicians from Guatemala, Honduras and Belize, including elder statesmen such as legendary Garifuna composer Paul Nabor and young paranda star Aurelio Martinez.

Taking inspiration from Latin-influenced paranda, the sacred punta and gunjei rhythms, and adding contemporary elements to give relevance to their modern context, the group's album, Watina, released by the recently formed record label Cumbancha, echoes the poignant Garifuna history.

Duran seeks to explore the more soulful side of Garifuna music, and notes that the beauty is in the simplicity, comparing a good Garifuna song to a photograph. "It captures a moment in time; a split second of someone's life."

Most recently, the ensemble has collaborated with English musician Fatboy Slim, resulting in three tracks that will be released on the artist's next album.

Palacio lives in Belize where he continues his work in promoting Culture and the Arts as the country's Cultural Ambassador and Deputy Administrator of the National Institute of Culture and History. This year, Andy Palacio & the Garifuna Collective embark on an ambitious worldwide touring schedule in an effort to bring the beauty and power of Garifuna music to a widespread audience.