Latest news with #Garifuna
The Guardian
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Garifuna singer Tavo Man hails Grammy nomination as historic first
When the Honduran musician Gustavo Castillo, stage name Tavo Man, was nominated for a Latin Grammy, it was seen as a triumph for Garifuna people around the world. It was the first time a Garifuna song was recognised in the prestigious awards, and was considered a milestone in the fight to preserve and popularise the culture. Having his Garifuna song, Hun Hara, which celebrated the values of kindness and gratitude, recognised by the Grammys was important in telling the story of his ancestors, said Castillo, 31. The Garifuna, descendants of enslaved Africans and Indigenous Kalinagos, are indigenous to the Caribbean island of St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), but their diaspora has spread across the Americas. 'It was only the first round of the Grammies, but it meant a lot to me, because I'm the first Garifuna artist to achieve this; it was like a dream coming true,' he said. He added: 'I remember when I sent the request to the Latin Grammy. I was a little nervous about it because I was the first one to cross that line … I was not expecting anything to come from it. So when they answered me and they told me to send my biography, it was like, wow.' The Garifuna came into the spotlight in March when SVG's prime minister, Ralph Gonsalves, purchased Baliceaux, a private, uninhabited island in the country's archipelago where thousands of Garifuna perished after they were stranded there by the British in 1796 in miserable conditions. Regarded as sacred by the Garifuna, the SVG government announced plans to designate Baliceaux a heritage site for Garifuna who still live in Honduras, Belize and the other regions to which their ancestors were exiled by the British, centuries ago. Castillo's recent release Ítarala – 'Amen' – is rooted in a traditional Garifuna hymn that explores humanity's spiritual connection to its supreme creator. He wants his music to revive Garifuna music and language, which have been recognised by Unesco on its register of intangible cultural heritage. Castillo said he remembers his grandmother singing the hymn to him. 'My mum used to work, so I used to spend more time with my grandmother. She was 100% Garifuna, and she taught me about respect and about the culture.' He added that since the age of 13, he had felt compelled by his ancestors to be a voice for the Garifuna people. 'They need someone to talk about the history of the things that are happening in the community today; to remind us that we are warriors, survivors, and that to deal with today's challenges, we need to act together like our ancestors did.' Castillo said he persevered with his music, even when his parents disapproved, concerned that it was not a lucrative career option. 'I'm the first in my family to start doing music and making art. So it was a little bit complicated for me. For them, they saw my dreams as something to do just for a couple of years, not for my whole life. They didn't realise I could get something, or make a living from this.' Castillo credits his manager, Miguel Álvarez, who is also Garifuna, for keeping him focused and avoiding trouble on the streets of Honduras. Princess Eulogia Gordon, a Californian publicist who strongly identifies with her Garifuna heritage, compared Tavo Man to other greats of Caribbean music. 'I remember growing up in the US and hearing Bob Marley on the radio, and then people coming out with Carib Beats and Afro Beats. We had Beenie Man and Sean Paul, and Rihanna, and I was saying, 'Oh my gosh, we are getting more and more of our flavours coming to the mainstream.' 'But, none of the Garifuna late greats like Paul Nabor, Andy Palacio and Aurelio Martínez were on the radio, and here we are in 2025 and they are still not getting that respect and that access to the mainstream,' she said. Gordon said she felt an instant connection to Man's rendition of Ítarala. 'I feel like it was divinely and spiritually brought to me so I could work with it, and ensure that it gets pushed out into the community and beyond. The ancient story of the Garifuna is woven into this music, but there is also a contemporary rhythm that engages children and young people who have lost the desire to be Garifuna. This song gives us permission to be Garifuna.'
The Guardian
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Garifuna singer Tavo Man hails Grammy nomination as historic first
When the Honduran musician Gustavo Castillo, stage name Tavo Man, was nominated for a Latin Grammy, it was seen as a triumph for Garifuna people around the world. It was the first time a Garifuna song was recognised in the prestigious awards, and was considered a milestone in the fight to preserve and popularise the culture. Having his Garifuna song, Hun Hara, which celebrated the values of kindness and gratitude, recognised by the Grammys was important in telling the story of his ancestors, said Castillo, 31. The Garifuna, descendants of enslaved Africans and Indigenous Kalinagos, are indigenous to the Caribbean island of St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), but their diaspora has spread across the Americas. 'It was only the first round of the Grammies, but it meant a lot to me, because I'm the first Garifuna artist to achieve this; it was like a dream coming true,' he said. He added: 'I remember when I sent the request to the Latin Grammy. I was a little nervous about it because I was the first one to cross that line … I was not expecting anything to come from it. So when they answered me and they told me to send my biography, it was like, wow.' The Garifuna came into the spotlight in March when SVG's prime minister, Ralph Gonsalves, purchased Baliceaux, a private, uninhabited island in the country's archipelago where thousands of Garifuna perished after they were stranded there by the British in 1796 in miserable conditions. Regarded as sacred by the Garifuna, the SVG government announced plans to designate Baliceaux a heritage site for Garifuna who still live in Honduras, Belize and the other regions to which their ancestors were exiled by the British, centuries ago. Castillo's recent release Ítarala – 'Amen' – is rooted in a traditional Garifuna hymn that explores humanity's spiritual connection to its supreme creator. He wants his music to revive Garifuna music and language, which have been recognised by Unesco on its register of intangible cultural heritage. Castillo said he remembers his grandmother singing the hymn to him. 'My mum used to work, so I used to spend more time with my grandmother. She was 100% Garifuna, and she taught me about respect and about the culture.' He added that since the age of 13, he had felt compelled by his ancestors to be a voice for the Garifuna people. 'They need someone to talk about the history of the things that are happening in the community today; to remind us that we are warriors, survivors, and that to deal with today's challenges, we need to act together like our ancestors did.' Castillo said he persevered with his music, even when his parents disapproved, concerned that it was not a lucrative career option. 'I'm the first in my family to start doing music and making art. So it was a little bit complicated for me. For them, they saw my dreams as something to do just for a couple of years, not for my whole life. They didn't realise I could get something, or make a living from this.' Castillo credits his manager, Miguel Álvarez, who is also Garifuna, for keeping him focused and avoiding trouble on the streets of Honduras. Princess Eulogia Gordon, a Californian publicist who strongly identifies with her Garifuna heritage, compared Tavo Man to other greats of Caribbean music. 'I remember growing up in the US and hearing Bob Marley on the radio, and then people coming out with Carib Beats and Afro Beats. We had Beenie Man and Sean Paul, and Rihanna, and I was saying, 'Oh my gosh, we are getting more and more of our flavours coming to the mainstream.' 'But, none of the Garifuna late greats like Paul Nabor, Andy Palacio and Aurelio Martínez were on the radio, and here we are in 2025 and they are still not getting that respect and that access to the mainstream,' she said. Gordon said she felt an instant connection to Man's rendition of Ítarala. 'I feel like it was divinely and spiritually brought to me so I could work with it, and ensure that it gets pushed out into the community and beyond. The ancient story of the Garifuna is woven into this music, but there is also a contemporary rhythm that engages children and young people who have lost the desire to be Garifuna. This song gives us permission to be Garifuna.'
New York Times
01-05-2025
- Health
- New York Times
Family Seeks $15 Million in Death of Migrant Girl in U.S. Custody
The death of an 8-year-old migrant girl in 2023 while she was in the custody of U.S. Customs and Border Protection prompted investigations and the removal of the agency's chief medical officer. Now, two immigrant rights groups are seeking $15 million in damages on behalf of the girl's family. In a wrongful death claim filed with the federal government on Thursday, lawyers for the family offer the most detailed public account yet of the life and death of the child, Anadith Danay Reyes Álvarez, and her family's efforts to obtain answers about her care in federal custody. Her death came during a record increase in migration, as the Biden administration struggled to curb illegal crossings and faced criticism about overcrowded detention facilities and the treatment of minors. Illegal crossings plunged in the final months of the Biden administration after a change in asylum policy, and have remained very low under President Trump. But the Trump administration has made families with children targets for detention and removal as President Trump seeks to fulfill a campaign pledge to deport millions of undocumented immigrants. Rochelle Garza, president of the Texas Civil Rights Project, one of the groups that filed the claim, said Anadith's family wanted to ensure there was accountability and transparency in Customs and Border Protection facilities, which she described as 'one of the most obscure and opaque types of detention in our American immigration system.' 'They do not want their daughter to have died in vain,' Ms. Garza said. Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment on the wrongful death claim. After Anadith's death, Troy Miller, then acting head of the border agency, requested a review of CBP facilities and made recommendations to address the medical care issues. Anadith, a Panamanian national, was diagnosed with sickle cell disease and a heart condition at a young age. When she was 5, she traveled with her father to Spain for open-heart surgery and returned to Panama. The family made their way up through Mexico and sought to cross into the United States in May 2023 in hopes of providing safety and a better life for their daughter, according to the complaint. Her parents, who are Honduran, are members of a long-persecuted Afro-Indigenous population known as Garifuna, and had fled their own country before their daughter was born. The other immigrant rights group that filed the family's legal claim was the Haitian Bridge Alliance, which focuses on serving Black immigrants. On May 9, 2023, she, her parents and two siblings were detained alongside other migrants at the border near Brownsville, Texas. The family was then taken to a processing center in Donna, a nearby city, where security camera footage showed her parents handed over their daughter's medical records to border officials in a medical screening area, the claim states. But medical personnel there did not properly assess her medical history or communicate the details of her medical conditions to the staff at the facility in Harlingen where the family ended up, investigators have found. Anadith and her family were held in custody for nine days, more than twice as long as newly arrived migrants, particularly children, should be detained, according to the border agency's own standards. In that time, Anadith exhibited a high fever and complained of pain in her chest and abdomen, among other symptoms, lawyers said. The claim contends immigration officials failed to provide the girl with proper medical care and to adhere to a 22-year-old consent decree that lays out the minimum standards for care of the nation's youngest new arrivals. Between the evening of May 14 and her death on May 17, an internal investigation found, medical professionals at the holding facility in Harlingen saw Anadith at least nine times. A nurse practitioner who saw the child told internal investigators that she dismissed three or four requests from Anadith's mother to call an ambulance or take the child to the hospital. The previous year, a report from the detention ombudsman at Homeland Security had warned that critical shortages in medical services at border facilities could put migrants' lives at risk. A report from the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this year found the circumstances of Anadith's death were 'not an aberration, but indicative of systemic problems' within border facilities and medical care. Anadith's family is now in the process of seeking asylum, and her parents have secured work permits, lawyers said. In an interview on Thursday, the girl's mother, Mabel Álvarez, said her family had filed the claim in hopes of preserving Anadith's memory and preventing another tragedy. She recalled that her daughter was healthy when she first arrived at the South Texas border. But she said the small room where her family was detained was filthy with trash and dust. She also recalled it was frigid, the reason such facilities are often referred to as 'hieleras,' or coolers. Ms. Álvarez wept as she described staff members who she said ignored her pleas for medical attention as her daughter's condition worsened. After the family's release from immigration detention, Ms. Álvarez said, she took on a job at a factory in New York, but she had to leave it as she struggled with depression and anxiety. 'It was a difficult thing, that my daughter died in my arms, looking for help,' she said.
The Guardian
26-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Aurelio obituary
Aurelio Martínez, who has died aged 55 in a plane crash off Roatán island in Honduras, was a musician and politician who became the leading cultural ambassador for the Garifuna people. Known simply as Aurelio, the name he used for his recordings with Peter Gabriel's Real World label, he kept alive, and updated, the music and stories of the Garifuna, descendants of African enslaved people who trace their history back to a 17th-century shipwreck on the Caribbean island of St Vincent. There they lived with local Arawaks, forming a distinctive community until they were forced out by the British in the late 18th century, settling along the Caribbean coastlands of Belize, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Honduras – where Aurelio was born. Their music, a mixture of African and Caribbean styles known as Paranda, was popularised in Europe by Andy Palacio, the first international Garifuna star. Aurelio shared his love of the songs of their heritage, and came to the attention of Palacio, who lived up the coast in Belize. He invited Aurelio to take part in a Garifuna music festival and introduced him to Ivan Duran, a Belize-based producer who runs the Stonetree record label. Duran, who had been 'struggling to find young Paranda musicians, because no one was playing that kind of music', brought the two singers together for his 1995 compilation set, Paranda. In 2004 he also produced and released Aurelio's solo album, Garifuna Soul, in which he sang and played acoustic guitar on a set that included traditional and self-composed songs – with Palacio singing on one track and Duran adding electric guitar. It was the first time a Paranda album had been released by a young, up-and-coming Garifuna artist, and, an instant classic in Belize, it launched Aurelio's musical career. Soon afterwards Aurelio began to move into politics. He had already been a councillor in La Ceiba, a port city in northern Honduras, and in 2005 became one of the first people of African descent to be elected to the Honduras national congress – though even as a politician he kept playing music, saying, 'I don't make music to make money, I play to support my culture.' In 2007 he played on Palacio's classic album Wátina. The death of Palacio in 2008, at the age of 48, made Aurelio rethink his career. He left a congress session to travel to Belize for Palacio's funeral, then began giving concerts in his honour. After discussions with Duran, he decided to record a new album, continuing Palacio's legacy but exploring new approaches to Garifuna styles. Music, rather than politics, now took up most of his time – obviously to the annoyance of his constituents, for in the 2009 poll he failed to get re-elected. By that time Aurelio had begun recording a new album in a Garifuna community on the Honduran coast, with the aim of mixing traditional styles with influences from across the Caribbean. He then added in African influences, after travelling to Senegal, (with Duran), as one of the three finalists in a Rolex mentoring scheme. The winner would work with the Senegalese star Youssou N'Dour – and N'Dour chose Aurelio. He was mentored by N'Dour for a year, travelling several times to meet him in Senegal and elsewhere. N'Dour and members of his band contributed to the album, Laru Beya, as did other Senegalese stars, including members of Orchestra Baobab, and it was hailed as one of the best world music recordings of 2011, with songs that ranged from lilting, languid pieces to a lament on the horrors of slavery. It even included a song by Aurelio's mother, Maria, who also made a brief appearance on the album. Now recognised as a worthy successor to Palacio, Aurelio followed up with concert tours and two further albums, Lándini (2014) and Darandi (2017). The latter was a rousing set recorded live at the Real World studios in Wiltshire, soon after he had played at Womad in the UK. Thereafter Aurelio continued performing for the Garifuna community in Belize, Honduras and the US, to where his mother had relocated. 'We took it easy,' said Duran. 'We had done such great work and were at a loss as to what to do next without repeating what we had done – which was an evolution of Paranda from raw styles to something more sophisticated.' Aurelio was born in Plaplaya, a village of farmers and fishermen on the Honduras coast. His father, Sinforiano, was known locally as a fine Paranda singer, while his mother, Maria (nee Suazo), was an accomplished musician and composer. The first songs Aurelio learned were from his parents, and as a child he learned to play Garifuna drums, also making himself a guitar. He began performing at Garifuna ceremonies, and when he left home at the age of 14 to attend secondary school in La Ceiba he expanded his musical range. He worked with pop groups, playing punta rock (Garifuna-influenced songs with electric guitars), and founded a Garifuna ensemble, Lita Ariran, with whom he recorded Songs of the Garifuna (1994) before meeting Palacio and Duran, and taking the music he had loved since childhood to an international audience. Aurelio is survived by 10 children, his mother, three sisters and four brothers. Aurelio Martínez Suazo, musician amd politician, born 26 September 1969; died 17 March 2025
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Aurelio Martínez, Honduran Musician and Star of Garifuna Music, Dead at 55
Aurelio Martínez, the celebrated Honduran folk musician who helped introduce the wider world to the music of the Garifuna people, died Monday, March 17, in a small passenger plane crash. He was 55. Martínez was one of 13 people who died when the small plane crashed moments after taking off from an island near mainland Honduras. The musician's label, Real World Records, confirmed Martínez was among those who'd died in a statement. More from Rolling Stone Jesse Colin Young, Youngbloods Frontman Who Sang Sixties Hit 'Get Together,' Dead at 83 Wheesung, South Korean Star Who Helped Bring R&B to K-Pop, Dead at 43 D'Wayne Wiggins, Co-Founder of Tony! Toni! Toné!, Dead at 64 'Aurelio was more than just a musician — he was a statesman, a spokesperson and vital savior of the culture of the Garifuna people of Honduras,' the statement read. Peter Gabriel, who founded Real World Records, paid tribute to Martínez on Instagram, writing, 'His music will, I am sure, live on with all its artistry, sensitivity and musicianship. The deep love he had for his own Garifuna people will always be remembered, but it is most of all his own generosity and warmth that will be badly missed by all of us who loved him.' Born and raised in the small coastal village of Plaplaya, Martínez showed his musical prowess at a young age. Guided by his mother and uncles, he began playing percussion instruments at Garifuna ceremonies as a child, and was a well respected local musician by the time he moved away for school at the age of 14. The Garifuna people are descendants of Indigenous Caribbean tribes and enslaved Africans, who were exiled from St. Vincent and the Grenadines by British colonizers and settled largely on the coast of Central America. Garifuna music incorporates sounds from African, indigenous, Caribbean, and Latin traditions, with Martínez telling Rhythm Passport in 2017, 'Music is the most lively aspect of Garifuna culture because it captures our sentiments, preserves the language and reflects our spirituality.' He added: 'My people have a long history of resistance that goes back to the days of slavery and our homeland of St. Vincent. My music is an expression of freedom and hope. Garifuna music wants to transmit a message of peace and community.' After leaving Plaplaya for city of La Ceiba as a teenager, Martínez played with a variety of Latin jazz ensembles before forming his own group, Lita Ariran. Their 1995 album, Songs of the Garifuna was one of the first albums of Garifuna music to receive international distribution. Around the same time, Martínez — who primarily played acoustic guitar — found himself at the forefront of the punta rock movement, a 'high-energy, Garifuna roots-infused pop genre' that enjoyed wide success in Central America during the Nineties (per Real World Records). Martínez's international profile continued to grow after he struck up a friendship with Andy Palacio, another Garifuna artist from Belize. Palacio invited Martínez to perform at a Garifuna festival he organized, and the two recorded the duet 'Lánarime Lamiselu' for a compilation put out by Stonetree Records. Palacio also introduced Martínez to producer and Stonetree founder Ivan Duran, who would produce Martínez's 2004 solo debut, Garifuna Soul. The following year, however, Martínez stepped back from music and into politics, joining the Honduras National Assembly as one of the country's first congressmen of African descent. It was only after Palacio's sudden death in 2008 that Martínez felt compelled to perform and record again. He would go on to release three more albums, 2011's Laru Beya, 2014's Lándini, and 2017's Darandi. After Palacio's death, Martínez became arguably the world's most prominent Garifuna musician. But he remained a voracious student, always looking for ways to expand the possibilities of traditional Garifuna sounds. He spent time in Senegal, for instance, working with the singer-songwriter Youssou N'Dour and Orchestra Baobob, with those influences making their way onto Lándini. 'I have learnt that music has the power to carry the message of my people to the world and that it transcends beyond just entertainment,' Martínez said in that 2017 interview. 'I started with traditional Garifuna music and chords (usually only three chords) after traveling and sharing with artists around the world. Today, I not only see Garifuna music in my music: My music now has many elements of other styles, even though the essence continues to be Garifuna.' Best of Rolling Stone The 50 Greatest Eminem Songs All 274 of Taylor Swift's Songs, Ranked The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
