VARIOUS ARTISTS

Umalali: The Garifuna Women's Project

2008-03-18

An amazing achievement 10 years in the making, Ivan Duran spent five years researching and preparing for the recording women singers of the Guarifuna communities of Belize, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua -- and then another five years doing the recording, mastering the tapes and adding the proper instrumental background. Duran is to Guarifuna music what Alan Lomax was to the Delta blues. Guarifunians are the descendants of shipwrecked African slaves and the Carab and Arawak Indians of the Carribean. These songs touch on all aspects of their lives, sometimes with heart-rending vocals and other times with the upbeat dance style called Punta. You'll find it all here, songs about raising children, work, missing a loved one, hurricanes, gossipers, government jobs and coming home. 03/08 MJVD W-Central American (Garifuna)

Quick Links:

• Stonetree Web site on the Umalali project
• You Tube Umalali video
• Cumbancha Web site on the Umalali project