Rising Riddims Celebrates Belizean Culture Through Sound

What does the next generation of Belizean music sound like? The Rising Riddims tour is answering that question by remixing the rhythms Belizeans know with the contemporary sounds young audiences enjoy. After performances in San Ignacio and Dangriga, the free concert series rolls into Orange Walk tonight before wrapping up in Belize City on Saturday. Presented through NICH’s Belize Music Project, the tour brings Viv, Mocha, TY Rome and Vince the Prince to the stage with experimental sounds rooted in punta, boom-and-chime and other Belizean influences. Producer Deron Thompson says the goal is not to leave tradition behind, but to build on it and create a fresh sound that remains unmistakably Belizean.

 

Deron Thompson, Producer, Belize Sound Syndicate

“ Expect nothing but Belizean music. We have two genres we’ve been working on one called Expunta, which is a experimental cross between like house music, alternative, and punta, and Boom and Chill, which of course, you know, pays respect to Boom and Chime. But it’s like a more modern version of that. So we use elements like the ding-a-ling, the jaw bone, the boom drum actually from Mr. Peters. It’s actually still being used. So that’s the same drum that we recorded some of the samples with. And we use modern chord progressions on different things. So it has like a dancehall feel, you know, like you could do like some reggaeton on it, you know. It has a very unique sound.”

 

Seth  Cambranes AKA Flayed Lotus, Artist

“Coming from San Pedro to the city show, we have Viv. She does indie rock music. She’s gained quite a bit of traction, and also a nice.  A close friend of mine as and there’s also Mocha. Her delivery, her voice is powerful, amazing. We also have quite a few other artists, like the ones that we worked with in San Ignacio. There’s TY Rome and Vince the Prince. Their delivery their lyricism is amazing, and their beat selection is also really good. And it allowed us to be able to do the boom and chime edits and punta edits to their songs to make them more Belizean.”

 

Kristopher Arnold, Recording & Mastering Engineer, Belize Sound Syndicate

“The experience has been great, and reasons for me joining into the project and being persisting this far, is I personally see a vision of this music going places for Belize, taking Belize’s music industry a little bit further than it is at the moment. And it has the potential for creating a slightly new genre.”

 

The Rising Riddims tour continues with a free show in Orange Walk tonight at seven p.m. at the Banquitas House of Culture, followed by a performance tomorrow in Belize City at the House of Culture.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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