A Wholly Garifuna Experience in Hopkins
I had been disappointed with the vague Garifuna culture in Livingston, Guatemala, so when I reached this tiny, laidback Caribbean seaside town of Hopkins, with its almost exclusively Black Caribb population and their proud cultural heritage I was so enthused. Although the beach was lovely and my cabana overlooking the sea was a dream, the most impacting part was hearing the resident Garifuna Punta drummers in my hostel-cum-drumming-school, Lebeha.
First of all the music really appealed to me, reminding me of a more complicated Samba or even Uruguayan Candombe rhythm, secondly the drummers are so very talented, drumming at an unbelievably fast pace, maintaining a highly melodic rhythm throughout and enjoying themselves thoroughly. (The two most talented drummers were just 16 and 17 years old!!) The interaction between drummers was fascinating, especially when one stopped drumming and danced in direct ´conversation` with the drumming.
The music is contagious. Of course I got up and joined in dancing, but my bum, used to the sideward movement of salsa, could not manage the up and down movement. However, according to the flattery of the drummers I still managed to outdance one of the local Garifuna boys with my poor Samba-cum-Salsa moves! Ha ha!
I regret that after just 24 hours in Hopkins I had to move on without any videos or photos of the Punta performance. I wanted to go back before leaving Belize, but the country was just too expensive for me!
Here are a few photos of Hopkins.
DISTANCE TRAVELLED (OVERLAND) SINCE USHUAIA: 33,620 KM
First of all the music really appealed to me, reminding me of a more complicated Samba or even Uruguayan Candombe rhythm, secondly the drummers are so very talented, drumming at an unbelievably fast pace, maintaining a highly melodic rhythm throughout and enjoying themselves thoroughly. (The two most talented drummers were just 16 and 17 years old!!) The interaction between drummers was fascinating, especially when one stopped drumming and danced in direct ´conversation` with the drumming.
The music is contagious. Of course I got up and joined in dancing, but my bum, used to the sideward movement of salsa, could not manage the up and down movement. However, according to the flattery of the drummers I still managed to outdance one of the local Garifuna boys with my poor Samba-cum-Salsa moves! Ha ha!
I regret that after just 24 hours in Hopkins I had to move on without any videos or photos of the Punta performance. I wanted to go back before leaving Belize, but the country was just too expensive for me!
Here are a few photos of Hopkins.
DISTANCE TRAVELLED (OVERLAND) SINCE USHUAIA: 33,620 KM
posted by Louise Parmenter at 3:53 am
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