ANDY PALACIO

A Cultural Activist. Rest in Peace
Andy Vivien Palacio, musician, born December 2 1960,died January 19 2008
Great Garifuna Embassador. His music was poetry. What a beautiful person, who will be missed greatly. Rest in Peace Andy Palacio. Entertain all in heaven the same way you entertained us here on earth. The world lost an amazing artist.
Palacio was born and raised in the coastal village of Barranco and worked briefly as a teacher before turning to music. He sang mainly in Garifuna, an Arawakan language with a large number of words borrowed from Carib, French, and Spanish, but also composed English-only songs. He was the first musical artist from Belize to have a music video on international television. He received the award for "Best New Artist" at the Caribbean Music Awards in 1991, and was post-humously awarded the BBC3 Awards for World Music award in the Americas Category, in 2008.
Carifuna:Descendants of African slaves, the Garífuna were shipwrecked on the island of St Kitts in 1635 and formed inter-racial communities with the indigenous people - until 1797, when the British brutally expelled them to Honduras. From there, they spread out along the coasts of Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala, and arrived in Belize in 1802.

WATINA:A Look Behind the Music of Andy Palacio