To all my fans and all those who love Garifuna music and culture.
This work represents a culmination of many years of work in which I’ve made many great friends and allies who have accompanied me in this beautiful journey to share my Garifuna music and culture with the world. To all of them, I wish to dedicate these songs.
To the many talented musicians who have shared the stage with me over the years, I am forever grateful. Especially those who took part in this album: Guayo Cedeno, Emilio Quioto, Joel Martinez, Onan Castillo, Marcela Torres, Desiree Diego and Alejandro Colinas.
I also wish to give a special dedication to my departed Garifuna brothers and fighters Andy Palacio, Paul Nabor, Junie Aranda and Celeo Alvarez Casildo, you continue to be a part of everything I do.
To my producer Ivan Duran of Stonetree Records who has passionately steered this process for the last 20 years and to the incredible teams at Modiba and Real World Records for believing in my music.
Finally, this album makes me remember my beginnings when my mother Maria Martinez would accompany me in the evenings to the Collectivartes studio in La Ceiba, where I started my career with the great Guillermo Anderson to whom I also dedicate this album.
A tu memoria Guingue!
Aurelio Martinez
An introduction to Darandi
Since childhood, Aurelio Martinez has been performing the music of his Garifuna ancestors. Descended from shipwrecked African slaves and the Island Caribs of St Vincent, the Garifuna faced imprisonment and exile in the late 18th century, eventually finding home in Honduras, Belize, Guatemala and Nicaragua.
Darandi is a collection of Aurelio’s favourite songs from his career recorded to capture the sound of his incendiary live performances. Accompanied by some of the Garifuna world’s brightest musical talents, pairing upbeat, dynamic rhythms with melancholy, heartfelt melodies, this music is both deep and danceable.
Gallery
Rehearsing with Lita Ariran group circa 1994. Photo credit: Akira TomitaOpen full screen image
Sunset break during the 2008 'Laru Beya' recording sessions in Honduras. Photo credit: Ons Barnat.Open full screen image
Aurelio & his band at Real World Studios, Wiltshire in 2016. Photo credit: York TillyerOpen full screen image
Reviews
The 10 Best Albums of 2017
Songlines (UK)
A mature expression of Aurelio's decades-long sojourn, Darandi is a definitive rendering of some of his most compelling original and traditional Garifuna material
Rootsworld (USA)
The tempos are fast, the percussion's complexity is giddy, but the songwriting is sophisticated
★★★★ The Arts Desk (UK)
The finest living exponent of the music of the Garifuna people
★★★★★ fRoots (UK)
Exquisitely recorded, with layer upon layer of echoey guitar sound and percussion, Darandi is the culmination of a 30 year story.
The Wire (UK)
Indomitable spirit and characteristic joie de vivre
★★★★★ The Morning Star
A richly textured acoustic-sound
★★★★★ London Evening Standard (UK)
Soulful, lilting and yearning
★★★★ The Guardian (UK)
Mit zwei Trommlern/Perkussion, einem vorwärts treibenden Bass und der Twangy-Gitarre von Guayo Cedeño haben Aurelio und seine akustische Gitarre einen Klangkörper gefunden, der den Songs entspricht: Intensiv, groovy, treibend, ansteckend.
★★★★ Globalsounds (Germany)
Upbeat and engaging, like the man himself, and backed by Guayo Cedeño's vibrato-rich electric guitar, this album should bring more attention to an under-valued stream of Afro-Latin music. Welcome in that Caribbean sunshine!
★★★★ The Irish Times
Future sounds: the best pop and rock of 2017
The Guardian (UK)
Listen
Credits
Recorded in July 2015 at Real World Studios, Box, Wiltshire, UK
Produced by Aurelio Martinez, Alejandro Colinas and Ivan Duran. Recorded by Patrick Phillips. Additional recording and mixing by Ivan Duran and Al Ovando at Stonetree Studios, Belize. Mastered by Al Ovando.
Aurelio Martinez: Lead vocals, acoustic guitar, maracas. Guayo Cedeño: Lead electric guitar. Emilio Alvarez: Bass. Onan Castillo: Garifuna drum primera. Joel Martinez: Garifuna drum segunda. Desiree Diego: Backing Vocals. Chela Torres: Backing Vocals. Sheldon Petillo: Backing Vocals
A Real World Design. Front cover and booklet illustration by Ben Tallon. Graphic Design by Marc Bessant. Sleeve notes written by Marlon Bishop
Published by Stonetree Music and Real World Works Ltd
Aurelio’s striking interpretations of Garifuna musical tradition reveal his tireless, playful love of making music on the fly, but are also infused by the loss of one of the Gairfuna’s most eloquent and musically talented spokespeople, Andy Palacio. Laru Beya is an album that honours Palacio’s life and work.
Les Amazones d'Afrique are an all-female collective of west African musicians campaigning for gender equality. They have been described as a supergroup, and the characterisation seems apt. Angélique Kidjo, Kandia Kouyaté, Mamani Keita, Mariam Doumbia, Mariam Koné, Massan Coulibaly, Mouneissa Tandina, Nneka, Pamela Badjogo and Rokia Koné hold a strong pedigree.
