University of Denver
Digital Commons @ DU
Musicology and Ethnomusicology: Student Musicology and Ethnomusicology
Scholarship
11-2023
Garifuna Music Transcriptions: Western Notation of Garifuna
Rhythms
Isaac Antonio Rodriguez Bustillo
University of Denver
Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.du.edu/musicology_student
Part of the Musicology Commons
Recommended Citation
Rodriguez Bustillo, Isaac Antonio, "Garifuna Music Transcriptions: Western Notation of Garifuna Rhythms"
(2023). Musicology and Ethnomusicology: Student Scholarship. 169.
https://digitalcommons.du.edu/musicology_student/169
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This Bibliography is brought to you for free and open access by the Musicology and Ethnomusicology at Digital
Commons @ DU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Musicology and Ethnomusicology: Student Scholarship by
an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ DU. For more information, please contact
[email protected],[email protected].
Garifuna Music Transcriptions: Western Notation of Garifuna Rhythms
Publication Statement
Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.
Publication Statement
Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.
This bibliography is available at Digital Commons @ DU: https://digitalcommons.du.edu/musicology_student/169
Garifuna Music Transcriptions: Western Notation of Garifuna Rhythms
Annotated Bibliography
Secondary or Tertiary Monographs
1. Acosta, Eduardo A., Jorge A. Benavides. Antología de la Guitarra en Honduras.
Tegucigalpa: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras, 2018.
Eduardo Acosta is a BM in classical guitar performance from the University of
Costa Rica, and chair of the guitar cathedra at the National Autonomous University of
Honduras (UNAH). Jorge Benavides is a BM in guitar performance from the UNAH and
adjunct professor at the same university. In the Anthology there is a compilation of
Honduran compositions for the classical guitar. It provides information about the
compositions and the authority of their authors. It also contains compositions based in
Garifuna rhythms like the Punta, Banguidi and Gunchey, for classical guitar and jazz
standards.
2. Barahona, German Betuel. Música Garifuna de Honduras. 3rd ed. Tegucigalpa:
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras, 2018.
German Betuel Barahona is a classical guitar and music theory adjunct professor at
the National Autonomous University of Honduras. He awarded his Bachelor of Music at
the National Autonomous University of Honduras, a master in MA Communications and a
second MM composition, both at Universidad de La Rioja. ‘‘Música Garifuna de
Honduras’’ contains transcriptions of almost all the Garifuna rhythms, including layer
decompositions. This monograph provides a methodology to apply western notation to
Garifuna rhythms. This third edition contains Barahona’s compositions, and online access
to audio recordings of different native instruments recorded during his research. Barahona
focus in the analysis of the rhythms and their application to the classical music. He bravely
explains the cultural context of the rhythms.
Dissertation
3. Anderson, Mark David. “Garifuna Kids: Blackness, Modernity, and Tradition in
Honduras.” PhD diss., University of Texas, Austin, 2000. ProQuest Dissertations &
Theses Global.
Mark Anderson received his PhD from the University of Texas at Austin and was a
Harper postdoctoral fellow at the University of Chicago. He is an anthropology and African
diasporas professor at the UC Santa Cruz. Anderson has written several essays, articles and
books about race and ethnicity, transnationalism, the African diaspora, tourism, Latin
America, and the history of anthropology. In ‘‘Garifuna Kids: Blackness, Modernity, and
Tradition in Honduras’’ Anderson provides an ‘‘analysis of the historical exclusion of
blackness in the construction of the mestizo nation, the contemporary ‘official’ politics of
identity as negotiated between state agencies and Garifuna organizations; the everyday
politics of race as expressed in the discourses and practices of mestizo and Garinagu;
processes of diasporic identification with global blackness as expressed through cultural
practices such as hip-hop style and reggae music.’’ Abstract, Proquest. The Dissertation
goes deep in the problems of racism and discrimination suffered by the Garifuna. It is sad
how even after 23 years, the situation of the Garifuna still being almost the same.
4. Frishkey, Amy Lynn. “Garifuna Popular Music ‘Renewed’: Authenticity, Tradition, and
Belonging in Garifuna World Music.” PhD diss., University of California, Los
Angeles, 2016. eScholarship.
Amy Lynn Frishkey received her PhD in Ethnomusicology from the University of
California. In this Theses Frishkey rise the question of ‘‘What was the work of Garifuna
World Music intended to do?’’ and ‘‘What is the work actually doing?’’. The Theses is
under embargo until march 18, 2025.
Scholarly Journal Articles
5. Greene, Oliver N. “Ethnicity, Modernity, and Retention in the Garifuna Punta.” Black
Music Research Journal 22, no. 2 (2002): 189–216.
https://doi.org/10.2307/1519956.
Oliver N. Greene received his PhD in Musicology & Ethnomusicology at Florida
State University, his M.M. in Vocal Performance and M.M. in Sacred Music at Southern
Methodist University and a B.M. in Voice at University of Cincinnati. Greene is an
associate professor at Georgia State University. In ‘‘Ethnicity, Modernity, and Retention in
the Garifuna Punta’’, Greene describes the transition of the traditional punta to the punta
rock as ‘‘a way of reaffirming ethnic identity to the contemporary popular music’’. This
monograph gives a new perspective of music as an economic matter in the Garifuna
communities. Greene also provides many transcriptions of the punta, but these
transcriptions are not similar to the traditional punta. As a complementary material Greene
released the film Play, Jankunu, Play. This resource is relevant because Greene raise the
importance of the music in the Garifuna Communities as a sustainability source.
6. ---. “Music, Healing, and Transforming Identity in Lemesi Garifuna (the Garifuna Mass).”
Caribbean Quarterly 60, no. 2 (2016): 88–109.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/43488255.
In ‘‘Music, Healing, and Transforming Identity in Lemisi Garifuna’’, Greene
addresses three questions related to the religion, specifically the Catholic, and its influence
in Lemisi Garifuna inculturation process. Lemisi (the mass) is a merge of the Catholic mass
and the Dügü Garifuna ritual. This essay present scores transcriptions of the Dügü
(Garifuna ritual music), and explains its cultural transition to Lemisi Garifuna. Greene
shares information about Lemisi in Garifuna communities in the US, providing an
interesting perspective of a relatively young Garifuna tradition.
7. Kirtsoglou, Elisabeth, and Dimitrios Theodossopoulos. “They Are Taking Our Culture
Away: Tourism and Culture Commodification in the Garifuna Community of
Roatan.” Critique of Anthropology 24, no. 2 (2004): 135–157.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0308275X04042650.
Elisabeth Kirtsoglou received her PhD at The London School of Economics and
Political Science. She is also a Lecturer in anthropology at the University of Durham. In her
biography she says ‘‘My research interests focus on Gender, Politics and Migration in
Greece. I have published a monograph on Gender and Identity and since 2006 I have been
working on themes like terrorism, cosmopolitanism, globalization, power asymmetries and
the fragility of the social contract. I am currently conducting research on migration and
refugee issues, the Greek crisis and South European politics.’’ Dimitrios Theodossopoulos
received his PhD in Social Antropology at LSE. He is a Professor of Social Anthropology
at University of Kent. He is a social anthropologist interested in anti-austerity politics,
resistance, populism, authenticity, indigenous representation and exoticism. In “They Are
Taking Our Culture Away’’ these authors describe their experience in Punta Gorda, one of
the concentrations of Garifuna in the three north Honduran islands, Roatán, Guanaja and
Utila. They describe hoe the Garifuna in Punta Gorda feel disappointed about how foreign
people and ‘‘gringos’’ are taking advantage of their culture, selling it and getting profit
without giving nothing back to the Garifuna. But they also describe how the tourism has
affected the concept of Garifuna, trapping them in the ‘‘exotic’’ stereotype. This monograph
presents an approach to the Garifuna people feeling. It is also important to see that they
only interacted with the Garifuna in Punta Gorda, but there are more communities in
Honduras that may have different perspectives about the selling of culture and also about
different problems to the ones found in the island.
8. Palmer, Kimberly, and Juan Vicente Iborra-Mallent. “El Imperialismo Canadiense y El
Desplazamiento Forzado de Las Comunidades Garífunas de Honduras.” Nómadas,
no. 54 (2021): 49–65. https://dx.doi.org/10.30578/nomadas.n54a3.
Kimberly palmer is a MA in Sociology and PhD in Philosophy in Environmental
Studies graduated from York University in Toronto. She describes herself as ‘‘researcher,
writer, editor and educator who has published peer-reviewed and popular writing pieces
across North and South America and the Caribbean.’’ Juan V. Iborra graduated from
addresses the displacement suffered by the Garifuna communities in Honduras as a result of
the Canadian colonialist settlements. Juan Vicente Iborra Mallent is a MA in Latin
American Studies at National Autonomous University of Mexico. Iborra has published
several articles, essays and book chapters in various international publishers. In ‘‘Canadian
Imperialism and the Forced Displacement of the Garifuna Communities of Honduras’’ there
is a clear explanation of the displacement process of the Garifuna to inaccessible regions of
the country. This situation was the result of the colonialism, enclaves and oligarchies
settlements in Honduras. This article provides a good historical reference to the Native
lands dispute in Honduras. Those disputes have left uncountable unsolved massacre in
Honduras.
Music scores
9. Barahona, German Betuel. ‘‘Banguidi.’’ In Antología de la Guitarra en Honduras, 92-94.
Tegucigalpa: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras, 2018.
Banguidi is the result of the monograph ‘‘Música Garifuna de Honduras. 3rd ed.
2018 by German Barahona’’. It is an interpretation of the Garifuna rhythm Banguidi or
Bunda, mixing elements of the Chumba, other Garifuna rhythm. It is easy to feel the feeling
of the drums between the polyphony of the guitar. The harmony is very simple, but the
technical level very exigent. This piece was written originally for the classical guitar, but
was released in Teatro de Las Artes, México, D.F. in 2009 with an arrangement for guitar,
strings and percussions. Banguidi was also included as a mandatory piece for the First
National Guitar Competition Rafael Donaldo Umanzor in Honduras.
10. ---. ‘‘Gunchey.’’ In Antología de la Guitarra en Honduras, 95-98. Tegucigalpa: Universidad
Nacional Autónoma de Honduras, 2018.
Gunchey was composed using the research monograph ‘‘Música Garifuna de
Honduras. 3rd ed. 2018 by German Barahona’’. It is a Western composition inspired by the
Garifuna’s gunchey. This piece was written originally for the classical guitar, but was
released in Teatro de Las Artes, México, D.F. in 2009 with an arrangement for guitar,
strings and percussions. Gunchey is one of the firsts Garifuna pieces written for classical
guitar. Its approach to the rhythms of the Garifuna traditional gunchey is very easy to feel.
Even when the piece has not a completely traditional style, the piece represents accurately
the rhythmic patterns of the primera (treble) and segunda (low) drums in the guitar.
Audio and Video
11. Chatuye. Heartbeat in the music. Recorded 1991. Arhoolie Records ARH00383, 2007. CD.
Chatuye is a Garifuna band based in Los Angeles. Chatuye recorded ‘‘Heartbeat in
the music’’ in 1991, making use of a various nontraditional Garifuna instruments, and
mixed rhythms between Garifuna music and Caribbean black rhythms. ‘‘Heartbeat in the
Music’’ is a very interesting proposal of Garifuna music changed by the mix of Honduran
and Belizean Garifuna using nontraditional instruments. Even though the instrumentation is
not completely traditional, many songs like Dusumaba, Geebei Tubahn Ounli,
Sidiheiguagudala, I know what I know and Wagiribuduba could be a great example of
Garifuna traditional rhythms.
12. Leland, Andrea E. Yurumein (Homeland). Recorded 2013. Kanopy, 2015.
https://www.kanopy.com/en/product/144902.
Andrea E. Leland obtained her MFA at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago.
She is a very famous and recognized painter and filmmaker. During her travels through the
Caribe, she recorded the art of many communities with African, Amerindian and European
origins. Yurumein (Homeland) addresses the problems of racism, exclusion, and rejection
of the Garifuna in Saint Vincent. This film embodies many of the deepest problems that
Garifuna in Saint Vincent communities face. This film helps to approach the art in the
Garifuna community of Saint Vincent, the native land of the Garifuna.
