WOMEX Award Winner Andy Palacio in London

Garifuna musician Andy Palacio, who recently won the 2007 WOMEX world music award, will be performing at Cargo on Tuesday, June 19.

Andy’s musical prowess and dedication to Garifuna culture has earned him international popularity and acclaim, receiving rave reviews from publications and websites from around the world and being featured on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered. He’s also received endorsements from some unlikely colleagues, like The Roots drummer Questlove and British DJ Fatboy Slim who offered to remix some tracks from Andy Palacio & Garifuna Collective’s new album, Watina. Fatboy Slim also collaborated with Andy on 3 tracks for his own upcoming release. Garifuna music has a deeply African flavor and is played with traditional turtle shell percussion, gourd rattles and wooden drums, as well as contemporary instruments. The language of Garifuna, in which Palacio sings, is a mixture of Spanish, French, and West African and Carib languages.

The Garifuna people originated when two large ships, filled with a delivery of West African slaves, sunk off the coast of the Caribbean island of St. Vincent in 1635. Half of the Africans survived and intermingled with the indigenous Caribs of the region, creating a new hybrid culture.

Buy Watina.