And Taiwan and NICH aren't the only ones trying to keep Belize's music and culture alive. Tony Wright and the Association for Belizean Artists First are hosting the 16th Sound Fest tonight at the Birds Isle. The event was designed all those years ago as the antidote to all the soca music that takes over Belize during this festive month, so, of course it's all about Belizean music. Artists like King Rancho, Lady Zoila Clark, Kurly Miller and Ben Mckoy among others will be taking the stage tonight. We spoke with Wright earlier about the purpose of the fest.
Tony Wright, President - Belizean First Assoc.
"We had some people over there for the September Celebrations back in 2002 and they had a program for the event. And when they showed me the program it had nothing for Belizean artists and so when I pointed out to the ladies they said if you are so passionate about it why don't you do something about it. And so I met Leroy "Bass" Castillo right after that and I talk to him and we started the first Soundfest. We felt that Belizean artists are not getting what they really due. I grew up in a Belize where when September comes around, every pan that was knocking and every drums that were beating was for us."
"Over the year when September comes around we found out that they are bringing in these foreign artists and the Belizean artists do not get to showcase their talent and that's why we thought of Soundfest to show off our Belizean artists and to show that our artists were good."
It starts at 8:30 tonight until.
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