Garifuna Symposium and Concert in Honour of Andy Palacio

Below is the final version of the public service announcement and the itinerary for "A Symposium: Garifuna Popular Music and Arts as Identity" and the Tribute to Andy Palacio concert to be held April 14 - 20, 2008 in Atlanta, GA.

These events are being sponsored by the School of Music, the Office of Student Life and Leadership/Intercultural Relations, and the Rialto Center for the Performing Arts at Georgia State University, the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African-American Culture and History, and the Georgia Humanities Council. The Tribute to Andy Palacio concert will be held at the Rialto Center (Box Office: 404-413-9TIX/9849). The symposium will feature a film series on Garifuna history and culture, a discussion and demonstration on Garifuna music, a drumming master class, lecture-presentations on music and culture by invited scholars, a visual arts exhibit, and a panel discussion on the Garifuna arts as a commodity. All symposium events are free and open to the public.

Tribute to Andy Palacio: Concert & Symposium on Garifuna Music and Arts

Week-Long Celebration of Garifuna Culture at Georgia State University

ATLANTA – Georgia State University’s School of Music, Rialto Center for the Arts, Office of Student Life and Leadership/Intercultural Relations, and the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African-American Culture and History are partnering for an exciting week of Garifuna culture and a tribute concert to Andy Palacio April 14 through April 20, 2008. The Symposium on Garifuna Popular Music and Arts and the musical Tribute to Andy Palacio will be held at various venues on the campus of Georgia State University and at the Auburn Avenue Research Library. On April 19th the Garifuna Collective, Umalali, Adrian Martinez, and Aurelio Martinez will perform a concert in honor of the celebrated musician Andy Palacio at the Rialto Center for the Arts at 8 PM.

For tickets to the Tribute to Andy Palacio concert contact the Rialto Center Box Office at 404-413-9TIX (9849). All symposium events are free and open to the public. For information on specific symposium events contact the School of Music at 404-413-5900, the Office of Student Life and Leadership/Intercultural Relations at 404-413-1580, the Auburn Avenue Research Library at 404-730-4001, ext. 303 or visit www.rialtocenter.org/garifunasymposium.html.

The late Andy Palacio, Cultural Ambassador of Belize and a UNESCO Artist of Peace, was the Garifuna musician whose 2007 critically acclaimed and award winning CD “Watina” (BBC Radio 3 and World Music Expo awards) brought international attention to Garifuna traditional and popular music. The Garifuna are an African and Native American people who live along the coast of Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua and in urban centers in the US. The symposium will feature a film series on Garifuna history, music, and ritual arts traditions, a discussion and demonstration on Garifuna music, a drumming master class, lecture-presentations on music and culture by invited scholars, a visual arts exhibit, and a panel discussion on Garifuna arts as a commodity. This project is supported by the Georgia Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities and through appropriations from the Georgia General Assembly. The evening will conclude with a concert to commemorate the music and legacy of Andy Palacio.

The Tribute to Andy Palacio, featuring the Garifuna Collective and Umalali, will include guest artists Aurelio Martinez, a guitarist, vocalist, and congressman from Honduras, and Adrian Martinez, a rising Belizean Garifuna musician. The collective features Garifuna musicians selected specifically by Andy Palacio. Umalali, a vocal ensemble of Garifuna women, performs songs typically sung by women.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS & CALENDAR LISTINGS:

A Symposium: Garifuna Popular Music and Arts as Identity –
Contemporizing the Traditional
Monday, April 14 – Sunday, April 20, 2008

Monday – Sunday (April 14 – 20) Garifuna Art Exhibit (Rialto Center Lobby)
(Watercolor paintings by Greg Palacio.)

Tuesday - Thursday (April 15 - 17) Film Series (Auburn Avenue Research Library)
Tuesday: The Garifuna Journey by Andrea Leland, 12:00 pm.
Wednesday: Play, Jankunu Play: The Garifuna Wanaragua Ritual… by Oliver Greene, 12:00 pm. Thursday: The Garifuna – An Enduring Spirit by Robert Flanagan, 12:00 pm.
(Films on Garifuna history, cultural practices, music, and processional rites.)

Friday (April 18) Demonstration and Discussion (Rialto Center Lobby)
Garifuna Collective & Umalali with Aurelio Martinez and Adrian Martinez, 1:10 – 2:00 pm.
(Garifuna Musicians perform various styles of traditional music and explain how such music is transformed into arrangements of popular music.)

Drumming Master Class (Haas Howell Building, Room 150)
Garifuna Percussion Music, 2:15 – 3:15 pm.
(A master class for students of Georgia State University and the general public.)

Saturday (April 19) Lecture Presentations (Rialto Center Lobby)
“It’s a Global thing, Now”- Cultural Iconicity and Transnational Garifuna Identity - Preserving the Traditional through the Popular
Oliver Greene – Punta in Office: The “Politics” of Garifuna Popular Music, 11:00 am.
Michael Stone - Garifuna Global Groove, 11:30 am.
Joe Palacio (Keynote address) – UNESCO Proclamations & Popular Identity, 12:15 pm. (Lectures by researchers of Garifuna culture and music will examine how popular music and musicians help preserve cultural identity locally and across national borders.)

Lunch Provided (Reservations required.) 1:00 pm.
Contact Rialto Box Office: 404-413-9TIX (9849)

Panel Discussion – (Rialto Center Lobby)
“Reflections on Andy Palacio,” 1:30 – 2:00 pm.
“The Commodification of Culture: Punta as Preservation and Profit,” 2:00 – 3:00 pm.
Moderator: Leslie Gordon (Rialto Center), Participants: Oliver Greene, Ethnomusicologist (Georgia State University), Andrea Leland, Independent Filmmaker (Chicago/Virgin Islands), Greg Palacio, Painter (Los Angeles), Joe Palacio, Cultural Anthropologist (Belize), Michael Stone, Cultural Anthropologist, (Princeton University).
(Reflections on the life and influence of the late Andy Palacio will be followed by a dialogue on the performing arts as a commodity and as a tool of cultural preservation).

Pre-Concert Discussion: Michael Stone, 7:00 – 7:30 pm.

Rialto Series Presents:
A Tribute to Andy Palacio featuring the Garifuna Collective & Umalali
Guest Artists: Aurelio Martinez and Adrian Martinez
Afro-Caribbean Soul
Saturday, April 19, 8:00PM
The Garifuna Collective pays tribute to the late Andy Palacio with Afro-Caribbean rock and soul. Palacio dedicated his life to presenting Garifuna culture, unique in its blend of West African and Native Caribbean heritage. The sound is undeniably soulful – nodding to its African origins – with Caribbean swing and echoes of Jamaican, Haitian, and even coastal-Mexican styles. The April 19th concert also features Umalali, a female singing group, in addition to guest artists Adrian Martinez and Aurelio Martinez.
Venue: Rialto Center for the Arts at Georgia State University
Cost: $26/$36/$52 – Free Parking
(Group and Georgia State University faculty, staff, and student discounts available)
Contact: 404-413-9TIX (9849) or www.rialtocenter.org

Sunday, April 20, 2:00pm. Reception: Meet & Greet Garifuna Musicians & Film Makers
A reception for members of the Garifuna Collective, Umalali, Aurelio Martinez, Adrian Martinez, and film makers whose works have been presented during the symposium.


Venue Locations:

Rialto Center for the Arts at Georgia State University
80 Forsyth Street NW, Atlanta, GA 30303 (on the southwest corner of Forsyth and Luckie Streets)
Box Office Phone: 404-413-9TIX (9849)
For directions see: http://www.rialtocenter.org/directions/index.html

Haas Howell Building, Room 150
75 Poplar Street NW, Atlanta, GA 30303
(Ground floor, on the northwest corner of Forsyth and Poplar Streets)

Auburn Avenue Research Library on African-American Culture and History
101 Auburn Avenue NE, Atlanta, GA 30303. 404-730-4001
(On the southeast corner of Courtland Avenue and Auburn Avenue)

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Andy Palacio: Diffusing Garifuna Culture Internationally

Andy Palacio, a Garifuna singer and songwriter from Belize and a former teacher and current government minister, has been recording a string of hits and making news across Central and North America. Recent coverage in the US press has included feature articles in The San Francisco Chronicle (see: "Music that could save a culture," by Chuly Varela, Wednesday July 25 2007, which appeared on page E-1 of the print edition), and The Wall Street Journal (see: "Black, Amerindian and Proud of Building on a Tradition," by Ed Ward, June 26 2007, which appeared on page D5 of the print edition).

In The San Francisco Chronicle article, Palacio speaks at length on the issue of the Garifuna language. He says: "I think my generation in Belize is the last to be raised where Garifuna was our first language in the home, streets and playground. But in the classroom, English was the language of instruction." He adds that, "in its essence Garifuna is one of the Arawak family of languages, with borrowed words from Africans, who intermarried with Arawaks and Caribs. The French also had a significant impact on the Garifuna vocabulary when we were relocated to the Central American republics."

Palacio also praises the role of women in maintaining Garifuna culture: "[It is] the women who have nurtured these songs and kept them alive [and the] men who have been beating these drums all along. Our mothers who have retained in their minds recipes for tasty Garifuna dishes. It is at their feet that I sit in order to learn."

The article in the SFC also notes that, "in 2001, UNESCO proclaimed the Garifuna language, music and dance Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. Palacio played an important role in securing that recognition, and that led to his appointment as deputy administrator of the National Institute of Culture and History in Belize."

The Wall Street Journal article also reveals Palacio's concern for the loss of the Garifuna language, rooted in a visit to a Garifuna community in Nicaragua where the language had virtually disappeared: "This established a certain consciousness in me, that there was the frightening prospect that we could wind up in Belize like the Garifuna in Nicaragua."

The article ends on a note of ambiguity, indicating that while Palacio has generated a great deal of excitement at home and abroad, it is doubtful whether his success will help to preserve the language. On the other hand, as the writer of the article noted, similar efforts to revive Cajun music and Irish music in the 1960s and afterwards proved successful.