And the renaissance of interest in brukdong is due in no small part to the fact that in the year 2000, Stonetree Records re-recorded and re-issued a collection of music by Wilfred Peters and the Boom and Chime orchestra. It was a milestone achievement because it was the first time that his Belizean folk music was made accessible on a compact disc, via a modern recording. Add that to the resurrection, popularization and internationalization of paranda music, and you'll see that in 10 years Stonetree's contribution has been great. And now, Belize's flagship label has put together a compilation disc to commemorate its decade in Belizean music. For the Benque Viejo based label, it's a special recording with some notable omissions. Label director Ivan Duran explained.
Ivan Duran, Stonetree Records
"In my opinion this CD is a very important CD, just for the fact that it unites several artists and several styles of music. I think it's a very satisfying release from that perspective. Not everyday do you see this type of release in Belize and compilations are very difficult to produce because they need to make sense and from song to song it needs to flow and it needs a have a certain song, or a certain emotion to it. The first thing that you will notice on this CD is that there are no punta rock songs and a lot of the work that Stonetree has done has been in punta rock with artists like Aziatic and Mohobub, Griga Boys, and also Cungo Music with Brother David. Those artists are not featured in this particular compilation because we are mostly looking at a more acoustic sound, yet its modern but its very rootsy in a way and its very acoustic sounding."
The Stonetree 10 year sampler call "from backabush" is available at local record stores.
