Garifuna Music and Dance

By Jose Francisco Avila

As we continue the celebration of Garifuna Arts & Culture Month in NYC, we present a description of Garifuna Music and Dance, as described in the  UNESCO Candidature Standard Form Proclamation of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity submitted by the National Garifuna Council of Belize. On May 18th 2001, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO, proclaimed the Garifuna Language, Music and Dance a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

Garifuna Music and Dance

There is an intimate relationship between Garifuna language and Garifuna music and between the music and the Dance. Garifuna Music essentially consists of various types of songs that are utilized for different purposes in the culture.

The Garifuna Rhythms or Genres

The Garifuna music genre is a conventional category that identifies pieces of music as belonging to a shared Garifuna tradition or set of conventions and includes popular music such as Punta Rock and Paranda (World Music), as well as the fundamental Traditional Garifuna Rhythms: 1. Punta,  2. Punta Rock, 3. Hüngühüngü 4. Paranda, 5. Sambai, 6. Chumba, 7. Wanaragua, 8. Gunchei, Gunjai, Quadrillei,  and, which have transmitted the beliefs that have guided the life of the Garifuna for generations.

Arnol Martinez Guity GarifunaRobics Your Cultural Style Workout – History of PUNTA GARIFUNA and Punta Tutorial- Learn how to dance Punta.

Punta is a semi-sacred Garifuna rhythm associated with funerals, wakes, and belurias (called nine-night celebrations throughout the Caribbean) with accompanying songs traditionally composed by women.

Punta Rock Music Out Da Box Fils Belize, Music by Hagucha Records.

Punta Rock, the traditional  punta rhythm has formed the rhythmic basis of punta rock, a popular Garifuna genre developed by Belizean musician Pen Cayetano, featuring electric guitar, bass, keyboard, and a much faster tempo than traditional punta.

Hüngühüngü is a semi-sacred Garifuna rhythm and dance that is one of the most distinctive Garifuna rhythms. The dance is a traditional, circular swaying performed by Garifuna women in Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Guatemala. The rhythm has a slow, three-beat pattern in its second part that is like a heartbeat. Dancers take two steps for every three beats played on the drums, which creates a 2-3 polyrhythm. On close examination, manifests some Amerindian features suggesting some South American origins.

Paranda entered the Garifuna Music repertoire during the nineteenth Century, after they arrived in Honduras where they encountered the acoustic guitar and incorporated elements of Latin American and Spanish rhythms into their music. Its name was taken from the Spanish word Parranda that was described as a serenade.

Sambay Garifuna Dance, Massay Crisanto  and Armando Crisanto , Ballet Folclórico Nacional Garífuna

Sambay – Is  an all-male dance in which After a short salute from the drum, each dancer jumps into the circle to display some fancy footwork.

Garifuna CHUMBA DanceChief Joseph Chatoyer Garifuna Folkloric Ballet of New York, Being Garifuna

Chumba Is a highly accented polyrhythmic song, danced by women soloists with great individualized style. The dancer depicts a chore, task, or some aspect of Garifuna life.

Wanaragua dancers of the Wabafu Garifuna Dance Theatre at Bronx Music Heritage Center

Wanaragua Also known as the “John Canoe” or “Mascaro”— this masked dance involves playing the drum to the rhythm of the dancer’s feet, who makes dramatic knee and open arm movements. It represents the strength and vitality of the Garifuna men.

Bronx Rising! Parranda con Paranda: French Connection – Garifuna Gunchei feat. Mariano Martinez,

Gunchei, Gunjai, Quadrille, The Gunchei is the French influence in Garifuna music and dance, a sort of square dance, described as a graceful dignified social dance, in which each man dances with each woman in turn. Our research indicates that Gunchei is the Garifuna version of the Quadrille.

Jabbar Lambey of the Lebeha Drumming Center demonstrates the traditional Garifuna rhythms