The Garifuna Soul Band

This is an album that closes a cycle in Aurelio’s career, representing the culmination of 30 years of composing and performing paranda music. Darandi is a collection of Aurelio’s favourite songs from his career recorded to capture the sound of his incendiary live performances.

Accompanied by some of the Garifuna world’s brightest musical talents, pairing upbeat, dynamic rhythms with melancholy, heartfelt melodies, this music is both deep and danceable. As Aurelio sees it, this is an album that closes a cycle in his career, representing the culmination of 30 years of composing and performing paranda music.

The album consists of the songs from his extensive catalog that have proven to be his biggest hits, the songs he plays most frequently while touring throughout the world. They range from Yalifu, a gorgeous lament to his childhood separation from his father from his first album, to Landini, the swinging title track from his third record.

“I want young Garifuna people to hear the problems they are living with reflected in my songs, and dance with those same problems.” In his songs, he has addressed issues ranging from safe sex to the tribulations of migration to the U.S. He hopes the children who aren’t learning to speak the Garifuna language will be inspired by his music to sing it.

Unlike his previous albums, painstakingly recorded one overdub at a time at the Stonetree Studios in Belize, Darandi captures the unfiltered sound of Aurelio’s incendiary live performances, accompanied by some of the Garifuna world’s brightest musical talents.

The album was recorded while Aurelio was visiting the UK for a performance at WOMAD Charlton Park. After the festival, Aurelio and his band visited Real World Studios, and laid down the record, completely live.

He packed the whole band and their gear into a single room. “We got into a zone where we felt like we were in our own community, playing Garifuna music for our people. It was a special feeling,” says Aurelio.

“The finest living exponent of the music of the Garifuna people.” ★★★★★ FROOTS (UK)

“Soulful, lilting and yearning.” ★★★★ THE GUARDIAN (UK)

“A mature expression of Aurelio’s decades-long sojourn, Darandi is a definitive rendering of some of his most compelling original and traditional Garifuna material.” RootsWolrd (USA)

Aurelio credits his mother Maria with introducing him to the basics of Garifuna songcraft and she also provides the inspiration for this album. A collection of Garifuna songs, both new and old, passionately performed and filled with teasing humour be they meditations on relationships or chronicles of community life.

Plaplaya, the small carribean village where was born Aurelio, has become a touchstone for him, a dedicated Garifuna cultural advocate and musical innovator.

In original songs crafted by Aurelio and his mother Maria, as well as traditional tunes, Aurelio returns to the landing place that launched him with Lándini (“landing” in Garifuna), a swaying, bittersweet homage to his beloved home and people.

“I consider this album to be the sound of my Garifuna people. On the previous album (Laru Beya), we experimented and collaborated with other artists to reconnect what was lost between Africa and America.

This album is purely Garifuna, and the entire spirit of the music reflects the Garifuna experience”, says Aurelio Martinez.

• No. 1 – Songlines 50 Greatest World Music Albums of the Last Five Years 2015
• No. 3 fRoots Critic’s Poll New Albums of 2014
• Songlines 10 Best Albums of the Year 2014
• No. 3 – The Sunday Times Culture Best 100 Records of 2014
• No. 2 World Music Central Best World Music Albums 2014
• Top Ten fRoots Best of the Best Albums 1986-2015

“Still representing Garifuna culture on the world stage. Superb… Landini is imbued with melancholy, memory and celebration … rich in variety … wonderful.” (Songlines Magazine)

“Landini is a splendid new entry in an important series of Garifuna recordings from Stonetree. If one day, the worst should come and Garifuna culture is reduced to a whisper and a memory, these records will attest to the fierceness, vitality and creativity with which Aurelio and his peers fought to save it. Aurelio raises the standard for Garifuna pop to a new plateau.” (Afropop)

Aurelio brings together his carribean and West African roots to create a soulful and uplifting sound that breaks new ground for his celebrated Garifuna culture from Central America. Taking up Palacio’s mantle as bard and advocate for his people, however, did not mean Martinez stopped his exploration of new approaches to Garifuna sounds, in particular their musical links with West Africa.

Thanks to a mentorship with Afropop legend Youssou N’Dour (as part of the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative), Martinez found himself in Senegal, learning from the stunning singer, rethinking his arrangements, and meeting everyone from big names in Dakar (Orchestra Baobob, who recorded with Martinez) to unknown talents hanging out in the back alleys of the city’s poor Medina.

Recorded in Belize, Honduras and Senegal, Laru Beya was not only a way of honoring Palacio as a person; it was a means for continuing his mission of uplifting and expanding what it meant to be a Garifuna artist.

“This album is about far more than just keeping tradition alive; it’s about urging people to action when they listen. We’re dealing with an emergency, and we don’t know if Garifuna music will survive,” muses Duran.

“But this album will show people in Central America and around the world that Garifuna music is alive and well, and that artists are moving it forward.”

“We’re not going to let this culture die,” Martinez affirms. “I know I must continue the culture of my grandparents, of my ancestors, and find new ways to express it. Few people know about it, but I adore it, and it’s something I must share with the world.”

• One of Songlines Top 10 best albums of the Year 2011
• Songlines 50 Greatest World Music Albums of the Last Five Years
• No. 4 The Sunday Times Top 100 World Albums of the Year
• No. 7 Best Albums 2011 – The Guardian Critics Choice

“A refreshing mix of influences – a powerful album.” SAARBRUCKER ZEITUNG (GERMANY)

Following in the footsteps of the legendary Parranderos from the Caribbean coast of Central America, with an enchanting blend of African and Latin acoustic roots, Aurelio recorded his first solo album and emerges as one of the most exceptional Garifuna artists of his generation.

Acclaimed for both his preservation and modernization of the Paranda musical tradition, Aurelio’s virtuosity is found in his distinctive, penetrating vocals and his talent as a composer. Aurelio was born into a family possessing a long and distinguished musical tradition in the small Garifuna community of Plaplaya in Honduras.

Aurelio began playing guitar as soon as he was old enough to hold the instrument. By the age of six he was regularly playing drums at social gatherings. Inspired by his grandmother and his father, Aurelio gathered a vast repertoire, which later enabled him to develop his own style. Garifuna Soul features the musical talents of Rolando Sosa, Lugua Centeno, Chela Torres, Justo Miranda, Andy Palacio, and others.

Garifuna Soul was recorded by Ivan Duran and Gil Abarbanel in a relaxed atmosphere at Sandy Beach Resort in beautiful Hopkins village. This new album, a mix of original and traditional compositions, includes 12 selections, comprising a rich blend of acoustic instruments and soulful vocals.

With the stage set for an emotive fusion of traditional and modern, Garifuna Soul has revolutionized, with fresh elegance, the tradition of Paranda music. Aurelio’s collaboration with Stonetree Records dates back to 1997, when he contributed to the now famous Paranda recording sessions, delivering three masterful performances, including his well-known composition: “Africa” and an inspiring duet with Andy Palacio.

Aurelio is an original member of the Garifuna All Star Band and has taken his Paranda music to stages in France, Japan, USA, Mexico and neighboring Central American countries.

“Aurelio Martinez A Central American musical giant and one of the greatest Garifuna artists who ever lived. “TOP 10 Album of the Year!” (Afropop Worldwide)

The tale of Andy Palacio and the Garifuna Collective traces its roots to the early 1980s, when a teenage Palacio traveled from his home in the Central American country of Belize to Nicaragua to serve in a literacy campaign.

Palacio is Garifuna, a unique culture based on the Caribbean coast of Central America that blends elements of West African and Native Caribbean heritage. Andy was told that Nicaragua’s local Garifuna traditions and language were all but extinct.

He was en route via boat to the Nicaraguan village of Orinoco to begin his first literacy assignment, when a storm forced a change of direction, leading to a surprise encounter that had a lasting impact on Palacio’s music, career, and life mission.

The legacy of this life-changing meeting lives on in the music of Wátina, a stunning new album featuring an all-star, multigenerational lineup of Garifuna musicians from Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras.

The Garifuna people originated when two large ships, filled with a delivery of West african slaves, sunk off the coast of the Caribbean island of St. Vincent in 1635.

Half of the Africans survived and intermingled with the indigenous Caribs of the region, creating a new hybrid culture. Fiercely independent, the Garifuna community resisted European colonization, and were forcibly exiled to the Caribbean coast of Central America.

Some were segregated and held onto their traditions and language, while others were forced to homogenize with the local predominant culture.

To avoid his own mid-lagoon shipwreck, Palacio’s boat captain decided to take a detour to a nearby village until the storm passed. He said to Palacio, “There is a Garifuna man in this village. You should talk in your language and see how he reacts.”

When the eighteen year-old Palacio greeted the old man, Mr. López, in the Garifuna tongue, the elder replied in complete disbelief, “Are you telling the truth?” “I told him, ‘Yes, my uncle; I am Garifuna just like you,’” explains Palacio. “He embraced me and would not let go. He could not believe a man so young could speak Garifuna, having imagined the language would perish with him.”

Aurelio’s track with Andy Palacio: Lidan Aban.

Critics around the world acknowledge Paranda as being one of the best albums to come out of Central America. And with good reason.

This is an incredibly rich collection, with a depth and range that grows with each listen. From the haunting, bluesy exuberance of Paul Nabor’s “Naguya Nei” to the fresh sounds of Aurelio Martinez’s “Africa” and on to the primal urgency of Lugua Centeno’s “Timbloru”, Paranda takes the listener through the tapestry of feeling and soulful striving that lies at the heart of Garifuna culture.

Producers Ivan Duran and Gil Abarbanel brought together these remarkable artists and sparked the revival of Paranda music in the region.

Listed as one of the 100 essential Latin Recordings by Rough Guide books, Paranda is a rare gem.

Paranda is both a Garifuna rhythm and a genre of music. The basic rhythm can be heard in Garifuna traditional drumming styles that date all the way back to St. Vincent and West Africa.

Paranda became a genre itself in the 19th century, shortly after the Garifuna arrived in Honduras. It was there where they first encountered Latin music, and incorperated the acoustic guitar and a touch of Latin and Spanish rythms into the music.

Paranda reached its promenance in the early part of the 20th century and has changed little since. Its instrumentation is totally acoustic: Large wooden Garifuna drums (called Primero and Segunda), shakers, Scrapers, Turtle Shell percussion, and acoustic guitar.

Aurelio Martinez sums up the experience of these sessions: “It was a great experience to participate in this record. I feel very proud to be in the same album with such great Paranderos. And in a symbolic way I feel like they are passing me the torch to carry on the tradition. To me this is more than a Grammy.”

Aurelio’s tracks: 5. Tumari Tibarimu. – 6. Lanarime Lamiselu  – 15. Africa.