Day One of this year’s Austin City Limits festival brought me to the WaMu tent for about a half-hour of the first Belizean band to every play the event. I’d never heard of Andy Palacio & the Garifuna Collective before that day, but I left the tent with a profound respect for this musician, his band and his style of music.
Andy Palacio died at the early age of 47 in his native Belize over the weekend. The cause of death was a massive and extensive stroke to the brain, a heart attack and respiratory failure due to the previous two conditions.
Producers Ivan Duran and Jacob Edgar had this to say about the man who almost single-handedly resurrected Garifuna music: “In the Garifuna culture the death of a loved one is an opportunity to celebrate their memory and rejoice in having been blessed to have had them in your life. We feel so fortunate to have known this incredible individual and we mourn the loss of truly great man.”
And celebrate we will — here’s a clip from the 2007 Dunya Festival in the Netherlands of Palacio with legendary Garifuna singer Paul Nabor:
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2 Responses
Palacio seems to be the black Willie Nelson of Garifuna music. I love this type of post HT. Cerebrum-Expanding, culture/genre bending info that may entertain, but primarily educates.
cheerio.
i am saying this to the family of andy palacio that you must stay srong because he loves you so much