Andy Palacio

Few have embodied the spirit of punta rock like Belizean musician Andy Palacio (1960-2008). After growing up in the coastal village of Barranco, Belize, Palacio was called to music following a visit to a Garifuna community in Nicaragua.¹ In Palacio’s own words: 

“What I saw was a generation of Garifuna people who no longer knew how to speak our language in such a way that nobody under the age of 50 was able to communicate with me in our language, and music being the thing that I love most I decided to use music as a medium for cultural preservation.” ² His album Wàtina (I Called Out), focuses on themes of culture, family, and land. In a 2007 interview with NPR Host Melissa Block, Palacio describes his effort to use music as a medium for cultural preservation. ³ His efforts to preserve Garifuna culture have not gone unnoticed. In 2004, Palacio was invited to serve as Belizean Cultural Ambassador at the National Institute of Culture and History. He then went on to win the title of UNESCO Artist for Peace. ⁴

Despite his roots as a punta rock musician, Wàtina bleeds into the interdependent genre of paranda music, punta’s slower and more soulful twin. The album’s most identifiable rhythms are the Hünguhüngu, consisting  of three beats, and Gunjai, consisting  of eight beats.

“Miami” on Wàtina centers Miami, Honduras, a location known for its scenic beach fronts. In Palacio’s own words: 

“Miami refers to the current situation of land tenure within the Garifuna community where the community has come face to face with encroachment on lands traditionally held by Garifuna people which is now being opened up and sold to wealthy land interests for tourism development. And all of a sudden people find themselves being excluded from lands that they previously had unlimited access to. And one such area is a beach in Honduras that they refer to as Miami Beach–and the song is about that situation.” ⁶

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Footnotes

1. Jon Pareles, “Andy Palacio, Who Saved Garifuna Music, Dies at 47,” The New York Times, Jan. 21, 2008, https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/21/arts/music/21palacio.html.
2.  Melissa Block, “Musician Andy Palacio of Belize Dies at Age 47,” NPR, Jan. 21, 2008, https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18287881.
3. Ibid.
4. “UNESCO Chief Pays Tribute to Belizean Musician, Artist for Peace,” UN News, Jan. 22, 2008, https://news.un.org/en/story/2008/01/246552-unesco-chief-pays-tribute-belizean-musician-artist-peace.
5. Amy Lynn Frishkey, Garifuna Popular Music “Renewed”: Authenticity, Tradition, and Belonging in Garifuna World Music (Ph.D. diss., University of California, Los Angeles, 2016).
6.  Oliver Greene, The Garifuna Music Reader. (Cognella Academic Publishing, 2018): 331.