GARIFUNA SOUL

"There's something very fresh and exciting about Aurelio Martinez's take on the paranda music of the Garifuna people from Central America's Caribbean coast. The haunting a capella intro of 'Santo Negro', with its simple call-and-response vocal owes a clear debt to Africa, especially the buzzing sound of the garaon (the Garifuna hand drums fitted with two metal strings over the head). Other tracks, meanwhile, highlight the Spanish-American influences on the music. 'Yau', with its slinky tenor sax and clave is a bolero that could feature in a Robert Rodriguez flick if it was sung in Spanish. All the traditional paranda elements are here - tortoise-shell percussion, West African drum rhythms and acoustic guitar - but Martinez manages to bring a contemporary twist to the mix.Martinez, a Honduran Garifuna, is the latest star to emerge from the stable of Stonetree Records, Belize's leading label. Stonetree was behind the launch of Andy Palacio, the king of punta rock, who brought electrified backing to souped-up versions of traditional punta rhythms. Palacio adds some of his own sparkle on 'Lumalali Limanga', a saxed-up dance track that comes on like a Dominican bachata. But that's part of the magic of this music, which evokes the Garifuna people's origins in the 17th century meeting of shipwrecked African slaves and Carib Indians on the island ofSaint Vincent. The drums sound straight out of Africa and yet the language is basically Amerindian with a few African French, Spanish and English words thrownin. It really is like nothing you've ever heard before."(Russell Maddicks, Songlines)