Thursday, January 25, 2007

Kazzabe - Garifuna Punta music from Honduras



So I was gone on vacation for 3 weeks and meanwhile got props in One Week to Live and Timeout London about my blog and there it sat for about a month with no posts. I have been busy having fun, so too bad. But lots of posts coming up, including a bag of lovely old private rave mixes that the Pied Piper of Wowow-ness gave me.

About 3 weeks ago now, I was on the beaches of North Honduras, enjoying the New Year with my relatives who are saving the world, but who also go to bed at 8 pm with their kids. So girlfriend and I decided to walk down the beach in the evening to the local village to see what was going on and we were blessed with one of the experiences like christmas at the trailer park, something you dream about for a long time, and then it surprises you when you don't expect and it's everything you hoped for. We waded a little river and walked up the beach to a little wooden shack in the dark with beer being sold for less than a pound and a huge loud soundsystem, a dirt floor and no doors. About 25 people were milling about from grandmas to kids doing some kind of odd side to side hip dance called the Punta. And it was just like winter London dream of hot weather in the twilight, with loud pumping tropical sounds you don't know, on the beach with friendly people and cheap beer.

They were playing the latest album from Kazzabe, a local garifuna band. The Garifuna are mostly black Hondurans and you can read more about the music in english and french here. I'm not super crazy about samba music, which this seemed to remind me of. But like Baile Funk, when played really loud it sounded good. And with the constant search for new musical influences in pop/dance music I thought it good to bring a little Punta to the blogs. The tracks posted are the ones I like best.

Track 2 - Gurinbiuwa
Track 3 - Africa
Track 5 - Keymon Liyumonduna

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