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Boston Globe, 9/9/01
Expecting salsa, you get punta rock
By David Wildman, Globe Correspondent
Boston Globe, 9/9/01
ON THE RISE
Expecting salsa, you get punta
rock
By David Wildman, Globe Correspondent, 9/9/2001
''It is difficult to sell booking agents here on this music,'' said Suazo's
wife Cindy Suazo, who is also his manager.
The crowds that come out for Latin music around here are expecting to hear
more of a merengue style, but punta
is very different.
Suazo, 30, plays the music of the Garifunas, a rich mix of African, Arawak,
French, Spanish, and black Caribbean people who originally lived on the island
of St. Vincent, north of Venezuela, and who were deported in the early 18th
century to Honduras and Belize in Central America.
Punta is the
percussive upbeat music played at Garifuna funerals, where, according to Suazo's
percussionist Alvaro Castillo, the music blesses the soul.
Punta continues to be
played in Honduras and Belize, with lyrics sung in Honduras generally in Spanish
and in English in Belize. Punta
rock comes from the more westernized Belize version, which uses electric guitar
and bass.
While Suazo does use electric instruments, he is determined to sing in
neither Spanish nor English but to uphold the tradition of the original Garifuna
language, which he admits can lead to confusion with the local Latin crowd that
speaks mostly Spanish.
''People around here really like this music when they are hearing it for the
first time, people from Honduras, Guatemala, and even Americans,'' said Suazo.
Still, it can be difficult bringing something new to the community.
In addition to the language barrier, the music itself sounds remarkably
different from salsa and merengue. Drum triplets charge along at a breakneck
pace while the bass hits staccato downbeats. This contrasts with Latin styles,
where the bass tends to play the role of the rhythmic spoiler, accenting mostly
the upbeats to give the music a complex, unbalanced feel.
It is, however, an effect that Latin music dancers are used to moving to,
though the unfamiliar language combined with the unusual rhythm necessitates
learning a different dance style.
Suazo has become an ambassador of both the Garifuna language and the dance,
teaching from the stage, sometimes holding workshops in cities where the group
plays. A Garifuna community organization in Nicaragua paid him to travel there
to teach the roots of the culture.
Suazo writes and plays original music in the Garifuna language. His latest CD
release is called ''Tanari Mama'' and is a tribute to his mother, who died six
months ago.
Omar Suazo and his 15-member punta
rock band will appear in a rare local performance today, 2 p.m., at the Jamaica
Plain World's Fair on the main stage in Hyde Square. Call 617-522-2424, ext.
255, for information.
This story ran on page 14 of the Boston Globe's City Weekly
section on 9/9/2001.
© Copyright 2001
Globe Newspaper Company.