Connecting Youths to their Roots: Belize Music Project  

The Belize Music Project is officially here. Created by the ministries of Culture and Tourism, the initiative seeks to connect Belizean youths to their cultural roots through a love for music. The project was officially launched today at the House of Culture in Belize City. News Five’s Britney Gordon has the story.

 

Britney Gordon, Reporting

For centuries, music has remained one of the strongest ties to culture that a person can have. Playing instruments, singing and dancing together, music connects people. And the Belize Music Project is seeking to connect Belizean youths to their forebears. Music activist, Bilal Morris explains the significance of the project.

 

Bilal Morris, Music Activist

“The Belize Music Project is a documentation and celebration of Belizean music, both past and present. It’s placing Belizean music into a historical context and timeline so that present and future generations of Belizeans, students and non-students alike, Belizean musical enthusiasts, entertainers, and the Belizean community at large can hear, see, experience, and feel the Belizean soul.  We can even play back this rich history of Belizean music through various musical technologies and medium today to enjoy the song of a people and their musically creative history that have not only developed a nation but globalize this rich and cultural heritage.”

 

 

The project is based on three main principles: research, education, and innovation, with the goal of unlocking Belize’s musical soul. Over the course of several months, the experts will attempt to create a digital archive of musical creations across Belizean history.

 

 

 

 

Francis Fonseca, Minister of Education

“The Belize Music Project focuses on preserving Belize’s rich musical heritage while fostering innovative expressions that bridge past traditions with future artistic endeavors, instilling cultural pride and identity. It involves comprehensive research, including interviews and historical recordings to create a narrative of Belize’s musical journey culminating in a multi-format music box set titled one hundred years of Music in Belize which features significant historical recordings and detailed publications.”

 

 

Belizean favorites such as Mister Peters, Lord Rhaburn and Sam Hamilton will be featured but as the project progresses, researchers will also attempt to archive the works of still-undiscovered artists of the past. Minister of Tourism Anthony Mahler says that by doing so, the world will be able to look back for generations to come and appreciate the talent concentrated in the small country of Belize.

 

 

 

Anthony Mahler, Ministry of Tourism

“Why can’t we have the next Bob? Why can’t we have the next Rihanna? Why can’t we have the next Marshall Montano or whoever it is, we have talented people here. And that’s why we’ve invested in the music studios that we’ve invested in and we’ll continue to do more. And that’s why we are investing in the music and food festival. I think art has a crucial role to play in our education and believing in what we are as Belizeans. It is important for far too often we take these things for granted but if you listen to the video and you listen to the talent that we had, and we have right now, I think we have to create that environment.”

 

Britney Gordon for News Five.