Music and the Moon in Belize

Last night, as you probably know by now, the moon, sun and earth all came into a line.  this is, of course, very cool.  the fact that it happened on the solstice, even cooler.  fact that it happened the night before the full moon is just…well, over the moon cool!  🙂  I tried to stay up, but frankly, i thought i’d let that amazing energy wash through me whilst i slumbered.  besides, i knew that no matter how i tried, photographers here in San Pedro could do it even better.  Jose Luis Zapatta took this image.  I love it.

In honor of tonights full moon, Ak Bol is having their full moon party with music and drums.  Which got me thinking about what we could learn about belize, and that is our music.  We have some very amazing, and several rather famous musicians that live and play here full time.  Our live music scene really is something to be heard…both north american styles as well as traditional belizean music.  Perhaps music should be called the salad dressing our tossed salad flavor and feel ? 😀

Music

As soon as you arrive in Belize, you will realize that music is a key element of Belizean life.

Belizeans enjoy Caribbean and Latin beats as well as contemporary American recordings but are equally proud of their own creations.  For many Belizean, music is a part of the national identity, a way of connecting with ancestors while preserving traditional and cultural practices. You will hear an assortment of sounds on the radio, at a party or street-side barbeque stand, during a live performance at a club or café, or the rhythmic drums at a Garifuna wake.

Belizeans do not only listen to music, they have to move to it — everywhere and anywhere.  It is not uncommon to see people dancing in the street outside a shop where music is blasting or to emphasize a conversation point with a little dance.

Virtually every celebration involves some sort of “traditional music”  In September there are lively marches and carnival music from flat bed trucks in parades to celebrate the Battle of St. George’s Caye and Independence.  At Christmas, North American Christmas carols in English and Spanish, blare alongside the lively Kriol,

“Good mawnin, miss lady and how are you dis mawnin…”

As you travel throughout Belize, the musical soundtrack in each destination’s will vary.  Let your body move to the “Brukdown” — a distinctive, original Belizean Kriol musical genre using percussion instruments such as the accordion and “jawbone” of a cow; “Punta Rock” — an infusion of traditional Garifuna rhythms accampanied by the electric guitar; or travel north and south and listen to the Mestizo and Maya play melodious Marimba music with an age-old wooden percussion instrument.