A Belizean hero passes away

This is a sad moment for Belize and for all world music fans out there as the Belizean musical hero and Garifuna rights activist Andy Palacio passed away last night.

I had the pleasure of meeting Andy last year when we had set up a jamming session with him and Norman Cook (Fatboy Slim) at Mata Grande Recording Studios on San Pedro. And, just like everyone else who has met him, I am in shock. Andy Palacio was a most vibrant, gentle, yet passionate man, fighting for the recognition of the Garifuna culture and language. Many of the Belizean youths are in dire need of positive rolemodels and with the passing of Andy Palacio they have lost one of their most positive examples and heroes. Rest in peace Andy.


Official press release: Belizean Musician Andy Palacio Passes Away After Heart Attack and Stroke on January 19, 2008.



Andy Palacio, an iconic musician and cultural activist in his native Belize and impassioned spokesperson for the Garifuna people of Central America, was declared dead tonight at 9pm Belize time due to a massive and extensive stroke to the brain, a heart attack and respiratory failure due to the previous two conditions. Palacio, 47, started feeling poorly last week and eventually visited a doctor with complaints of dizziness and blurred vision. On the 16th of January, he began experiencing seizures and was rushed to a hospital in Belmopan, Belize and then on to another hospital in Belize City. At this point, most people were hopeful Palacio would recover.



On January 17th, Palacio’s condition worsened and he began experiencing more seizures. He was placed on an air ambulance to Chicago where he was expected to get treatment at one of the premier neurological facilities in the country. En route to Chicago, the plane stopped in Mobile, Alabama to clear immigration. At that point, Palacio was unconscious and it was determined that he was too ill to continue on the flight to Chicago. He was rushed to a hospital in Mobile, and placed on life support. There, doctors determined that the damage to his brain function was severe, and that his chances of recovery were slim.



On January 18th, his family requested that he be flown back to Belize so that he might die in his homeland. A national hero in Belize for his popular music and advocacy of Garifuna language and culture, news of Palacio’s condition sent shockwaves through the community. At 5pm today, a public service was held in Belize City for Palacio as people prayed for his recovery. Ceremonies were also held by Garifuna spiritual leaders in an effort to help with the situation. Belize is in the midst of a heated election, but the local news was entirely dominated by Palacio’s health crisis.



The reaction has also been strong around the world. Until the recent turn of events, the past year had been one of tremendous accomplishment for Palacio as his album Wátina, which was released at the beginning of 2007, had become one of the most critically acclaimed recordings of the year in any genre. Perhaps the most unanimously revered world music album in recent memory, Wátina appeared on dozens of Best of the Year lists in major media outlets around the globe and was roundly praised in glowing terms.



In 2007, Palacio was named a UNESCO Artist for Peace and won the prestigious WOMEX Award. Wátina was also nominated for the BBC Radio 3 World Music Awards.



At home in Belize, the international success of Wátina has sparked a revival of Garifuna music, as young musicians have become inspired by Palacio’s example. Even in the days since Palacio’s health crisis began, the accolades have continued to pour in for his work.



That Palacio has been struck down at a moment of such international acclaim only increases the sense of shock and tragedy felt at his sudden and untimely death. Andy Palacio will be honored with an official state funeral. A massive tribute concert is planned in Belize City on Friday, January 25th.



Friends and supporters are invited to post messages in memory of Andy Palacio to his MySpace page (www.myspace.com/andypalacio) as well as to the blog of his international record label Cumbancha (http://cumbanchamusic.blogspot.com/).

What the Belizean press had to say about the recent Norman Cook/Andy Palacio recording

The Channel 7 report: Fatboy Slim & Andy Palacio: Garifuna Meets British Dance

One of them is a British producer who draws thousands to all night raves; the other is a Barranco boy who recorded his latest album in a thatch house on Hopkins Beach. Put them together and what do you get? A little bit of international dance musical sensation Fatboy Slim, and a little Bit of Garifuna superstar Andy Palacio. The two recorded last week in San Pedro and courtesy of Stonetree Records we have the videos from the four day session. Here's what it looked and sounded like.

Jules Vasquez Reporting,The Stonetree Crew flew out so San Pedro to Mata Grande Studios, four miles north of San Pedro Town to meet Norman Cook, aka Fatboy Slim. His idea is to marry dance music popular in Europe with Garifuna instruments, styles and singers. Add a little of the Grandmaster to that and you've got….something.

Fatboy Slim,"See what happens when English music met Belizean."

And from his end, Fatboy Slim brings a lot. As a vastly popular British DJ and much sought after remixer, he's played to tends of thousands, sold hundreds of thousands of records, and won an MTV Best Video Music Award for this song weapon of choice. But now, he's in Belize looking for new inspirations and experimenting. On what? He doesn't know.

Fatboy Slim,"You can't really explain experiments or experimental."

And that experimental urge led him to the Garifuna Collective. He wanted to see how their sounds would work on his records.

Fatboy Slim,"We arrived here with no real songs, no real ideas. I came here with a CD with beats and bass sounds from England and about half an idea of what to do and over the last four days we've hang out with the local musicians, listen to what they do, try to match the two and see what happens."

But how does Garifuna music with its African rhythms that go back centuries intersect with electronic music pioneered over the last two decades? Well, right here. In fact, this could be the textbook study. Joshua Arana playing the Primera Drum showed Fatboy how he could slow the pace, and seamlessly ride his electronic rhythm track.

After getting the percussion pattern from Cook, Giovanni Chi did pretty much the same for the turtle shell and it hit the spot for Fatboy Slim. And while Lugua Centeno was circumspect, Grandmaster felt it, right off.

You could call it roots funk - and to make it even funkier, how about putting a wah pedal on a drum? To our knowledge its never been done but between Stone Tree's Al Obando and Fatboy, they weren't afraid to try. For those who don't know the wah pedal is made for a guitar, and alters its tone. Here's how it sounded in the Fatboy track.

A murky mystery of a tone - but that's where the spirit of experimentation took them. And its that kind of experimentation that made the tracks starts to come together to the satisfaction of artists from both traditions.

But while he may aspire to play the drums, Andy isn't ready to go into electronic dance music at least not just yet. He did write a song, worked it out with Fatboy, and delivered. Backup singers Cella Torres and Deseree Arana also got in on tracks. And if that sounds plain, this is how it sounded in the mix.

After a few days of that, Arana too was made into a believer. And by the time, Fatboy Slim had finished four days of recording, he, the Garifuna Collective and the engineers had put together three tracks - which he says is just a start.

Fatboy Slim says that definitely two of the tracks will make his next album. He may also do a remix of one of the tracks from Watina. After that session, Andy Palacio headed to Europe, where he will make a live television appearance in France in support of his new album Watina.

Swimming with sharks and playing turtle shells, yes it's another hard day at the office...

Well, we're back from the jamming sessions with Norman Cook and Belizean the artists Andy Palacio, the Grandmaster and the Garifuna collective. It was just the nicest week ever with night time drumming sessions on the beach, snorkeling trips, jamming, fishing, recording songs, sunbathing and walking barefeet on the beach. It really couldn't have been any more perfect.

The first day was a bit chaotic as there were so many people at once, but things soon slowed down and good music was made in the process. Norman recorded 3 songs whilst he was here, with my favorite being a slighly more down-tempo track with Andy Palacio and the Grandmaster, which I think will be called 'GMT'. The stuff that was recorded here will not be released as Fatboy Slim, but as the Mighty Dub Katz on Norman's label Southern Fried Records.

One of the things that was interesting to see was the interaction between someone like Norman, who is of course a big time DJ/producers & these local musicians, none of which are professionals (even Andy Palacio, the biggest Belizean star, is a diplomat as well as an artist). Norman was surprised to see how all the Belizeans just froze the minute the recordings started in the studio. The whole set-up was just too alien for them & they struggled to create a vibe like they had the night before when drumming on the beach.

Ivan Duran from the Belizean label StoneTree Records explained that this was a common problem and that all their albums are therefor recorded in people's houses, with the singer set up in the kitchen, the drummers in the bedroom, etc.

Still, Norman patiently persevered and eventually managed to get some great stuff out of everybody.

Setting things up.


Norman trying to figure out where 'the vibe' has gone:

We were all so sad to leave. Maybe the following pictures will help explain why...

Caroline Prothero from Prohibition, Nathan from Southern Fried, Norman, Andy, the kids and I on our way to Shark Ray Alley, where we snorkeled with nurse sharks, sting rays, eagle rays, turtles and more.


One of the daily fishing sessions at the end of the pier (hoping to catch dinner). Much was caught, including a crab, but nothing big enough to feed us.

The biggest fish of the week was caught by Aidan. Sadly though, it was made of fabric. Lucas' 6-year-old friend Justin kept telling people that he had caught 'a slapper' the night before, which we believe was the snapper that the boys had caught (we didn't correct him as we all found it too funny)

Drummer playing the turtle shells. Norman loved the sound that night, but was less keen on them when he got awoken at 7 am the next morning by the 'tuning of the shells' outside his bedroom door. Still, it's all part of being in the tropics.

Belizean music

A while ago I wrote about the lack of a music scene in Belize. Well, that posting was not totally accurate. There is a lot of music being made in Belize, but you just don't get to hear much of it when you live here. It's a bit like the chocolate, really. See, some of the best organic chocolate in world is grown in Belize (the 'Maya Gold' from Green & Black), but it's impossible to buy any of it in this country. The cocoa beans get exported to Italy for processing, after which they're send to the UK for packaging.

So that's the story with the chocolate...then there's the Belizean music & on the local radio stations you only get to hear 'Punta' and the artist Super G!!!! (they always shout that name). I'm no fan of Punta, so I don't listen to the radio stations much. And I thought that that was the only music that was being made here. Well, I was wrong.

See, Norman Cook wants to jam with Belizean artists. So I started to do some research for him and was pleasantly surprised by the quality of music that was actually being made here. The best stuff can be found on the label StoneTree Records. Check out their site and click on the album artwork to listen to the tracks.

I will let you know next week how the jamming sessions are going.

Fatboy Slim jamming sessions

Very cool! I'm setting up some jamming sessions with Norman Cook (Fatboy Slim) and a bunch of Belizean artists. We're gonna have a blast! I'm sure Norman will love this place!!!

And we're planning to document it all as well. James Hyman may even come and do this with me. Which means that we'll have the old Partyzone team back in action. I really hope he can make it. And of course, as soon as I am able to share any footage of all this, I will. Just keep checking in on this blog....

Play me another fat one!

I received a funny email today from a person who is thinking of coming to Belize for a holiday (or vacation, for those of you from the States)

Anyway, he was asking me if I could give him the 'inside track' on who would playing here in Belize over the Valentines day period and which parties or festivals will be on in Belize during that time.

Well, what can I say? No one will be playing here. No one ever does. There are no parties in Belize ever to speak of (as far as I'm concerned)

I mean, there are 'parties' here sometimes, but not the kind of parties you and I would have in mind. The only music that gets played in Belize is Punta (which I hate) and these days (lucky enough) also Reggaeton.

Anyway, if you are expecting any big name DJ to ever play here....forget it! The nearest places to go and party and/or to hear dance music would be Playa Del Carmen or Cancun, Mexico.

Belize is really funny when it comes to music. It must be one of the only places left on earth where people don't know who Madonna is or who the Beatles were (Which is also the reason why more and more celebs decide to spend their free time here) I asked one of our tour guides recently if he had ever heard of Micheal Jackson and he answered 'Yes, I think so. Is he that black dude who looks white and who wears gloves?' He didn't know what his music sounded like, but had seen the child molestation court case on CNN.

Anyway, for me it was bizarre moving from a place and a scene where music was everything to a place where there isn't even a decent radio station. The radio stations here play a random mix of dodgy music, from Reggae to soppy songs from the fifties & US Rap to Country. It's like someone went through the bargain bins and donated all the records that were worth less than 50 cents to the Belize Radio stations. It's a sad state of affairs.

Dance Music (obviously) never made it into Belize and probably never will. Raggeaton is the closest they'll ever come, I think.

Personally I'm too busy being a mum to be going out clubbing these days anyhow. So I'm alright with it for now. I do miss having an occasional dance, but I'll try and get my fix when we come back to Europe this summer. And thanks to James Hyman's 'Rinse' CD's I do have a steady stream of good music to listen to in the car.

So Dan....thanks for your email. I'm sorry it made me laugh, but this 'music thing' is a constant joke amongst us here. Still, you are more than welcome to bring your girlfriend to our quiet jungle lodge & we'd be happy to organize all kinds of adrenalin filled adventures for you. But if you want to check out some cool DJ's on your travels you may want to skip a trip to Belize.

Let me know what you want to do....