Paranda Music: A soulful & inspirational genre of black indigenous (Garifuna) Music that is ideal for all occasions. Paranda comes from the spanish word that means "a spree or fete" and "parar' meaning "to stop". This is what Garifuna artists do with their Beresu lyrics.
Festival Name:
2018 saw the name of the Hopkins International Parranda Music Fest change to Belize International Paranda Folkart & Music Festival allowing the festival to embrace a global cultural entrepreneurship mission, which is 'SERVING TO INSPIRE". Annually the quest is to gradually expand the festival to cultural entities worldwide to join the calling to preserve indigenous cultures while we promote cultural entrepreneurship.
About the Festival:
Belize International Paranda Folkart & Music Festival is an event hosted annually Palmento Grove Garifuna Eco- Cultural & Fishing Institute a part of its mandate to retrieve and preserve our Garifuna Culture through a genre of indigenous music that has been slowly fading in our Garifuna Communities. The event produced through the non-profit subsidiary "Garifuna Heart & Soul Foundation" has become a signature event held annually during the Easter Weekend featuring two segments: the Belize International Folkart & Music Exhibit highlighting cultural artisans and their unique cultural products during the day time to primary engage families and the grand Paranda Music Fete being the highlight on Holy Saturday punctuating the night-time cultural entertainment landscape in the beautiful coastal Garifuna Village of Hopkins, Belize C.A. since April 19, 2014.
Belize International Paranda Folk Art & Music Festival focuses on showcasing Garifuna Artisans and Musicians(Paranderos) from throughout the Garifuna diaspora including Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, United States of America and all parts of the globe.This ancient soulful music profoundly expresses the sentiments of various Garifuna Communities expressing pain, lost love, sickness, love, joy, and conditions of the society by the Artist through song.
It is fashioned as a primary fundraiser with the overall objective to be a sustainable fundraiser for Garifuna Cultural Retrieval Projects in Hopkins Village while providing wholesome & meaningful cultural entertainment as a means of sharing our indigenous UNESCO proclaimed intangible cultural heritage of humanity with the world.
Festival Home Base of Hopkins Village
Hopkins is a traditional Garifuna Village and also an emerging tourism destination in Belize. Over the last 10 years, the village has seen rapid growth as its economic base have shifted from fishing & agriculture to tourism. This festival has allowed for the indigenous inhabitants to embrace cultural tourism in a meaningful way by engaging and inspiring artist to become entrepreneur producing value added products such as souvenirs in addition to their music for global consumption.
Purpose of the Festival:
- To connect indigenous artist from Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and the rest of the world
- To inspire and unite people through the love of indigenous music
- Honor our past and current musicians of indigenous ancestry
- Development of a sustainable cultural tourism festival product in Belize.
- Establish partnership with stakeholders and cultural bearers in the locally & internationally.
- Create and sustain an event that will drive the economy of our impoverish southern communities and lend encouragement to promote local entrepreneurship growth in a community that is now considered diverse.
- Design a profitable initiative to be the primary fundraiser to support the annual Belize Eco-Cultural and Entrepreneurship Summer Camp for youths interested in fostering their knowledge and practical skill in the Indigenous Cultures of Belize.
Objectives:
The Intend for Belize International Paranda FolkArt & Music Festival is to be Belize's premier indigenous folkart & music festival of world class quality providing diverse opportunities to diverse people using music & culture as a conduit to positively change lives. It is the first of such cultural tourism product that will serve to feature a unique and wide variety of indigenous cultural musical talent & service. It is intended to create a product that is in itself empowering, sustainable, purposeful, powerful, dynamic and is truly an authentic representation of one of Belize's most vibrant cultures. The festival endeavors to keep Paranda Music alive in all its original forms and to encourage young musicians to continue creating this genre of music which is considered music for the soul.
Goal:
To display Belize's indigenous (Garifuna) Music & Culture as a pilar for sustainable economic & cultural wealth.
