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From Punta to Chumba: Garifuna Music and Dance in New Orleans By Amy Serrano History of the Garifuna / Garifuna of New Orleans
Garifuna Music and Dance in New Orleans Today While some Garifuna chose to relocate after Hurricane Katrina and initially thinned out the local Garifuna population and number of events, today more and more Garifuna have returned to New Orleans and continue to arrive. On a Saturday night, the vibrant sounds of Garifuna drumming, singing, and dancing from a fedu in New Orleans East can easily be heard from the sidewalks of residential areas as well as community parks and neighborhood bars. In the greater New Orleans area, the number of recreational sports and music venues populated by Garifuna men also seems to be on the rise. And whereas prior to the storm there was only St. Theresa de Avila Catholic Church on Erato Street in Central City that stood at the epicenter of the Garifuna women’s spiritual and social life, Blessed Francis X. Seelos Catholic Church is also now holding Garifuna masses and is the stage for Garifuna family events and food sales. On an international level, the Garifuna music, language, and dance were declared "Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity" by the United Nations’ Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization [UNESCO] in 2001, and in New York, November 19 has been officially designated as "Garifuna Day." On a local level though, and without community support, the Garifuna of New Orleans face some challenges. They receive some indirect support and promotion through local non-Garifuna cultural organizations like CubaNOLA Arts Collective and Ecos Latinos, or individuals like Rudy Mills who has the band, Caribbean Funk. But there are no overarching cultural organizations that directly endow the sharing of their traditions on a public level or recognize the Garifuna. And most Garifuna express a desire for formal organization, and more ways of sharing and exchanges with the community. Yet within the domain of family and immediate community, the Garifuna strongly insist on sharing and maintaining their traditions, their history, their language, their stories, their identity; and the women actively engage in passing all of these on to the younger generations. At present and if they can gather the funding, Zulema and her husband Tingo want to offer workshops to teach people Garifuna drumming and dance. And encouraged by last November’s turnout at Blessed Francis X. Seelos Catholic Church during the Garifuna Mass, Doña Zoila Martinez is actively trying to find a vehicle large enough to transport once again new generations of Garifuna girls to an appointed place where they may be taught not only the Garifuna music and dances, but also, the stories of their people. "These must be passed on to others" she says. "We cannot let this die." Doña Maria Elena adds "the difficult thing is getting everyone together to practice. But for that, the only thing we need is our hearts. We have to do these things with our heart." If the right form of transportation materializes, Doña Zoila fervently hopes to have a new group of girls that will sing and dance to their Garifuna songs in church by Sunday, April 12, 2009; the anniversary of when the Garifuna people first landed on the island of Roatan in Honduras. She prays for this every day.
Amy Serrano is an award-winning filmmaker and poet living in New Orleans and working on a book on sugar and modern day slavery based on the findings in her last film, "The Sugar Babies." This article was written for the Louisiana Division of the Arts New Populations Project in 2009. |
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