In an unprecedented move, it has been announced that Andy Palacio is the winner of artist of the year in the America's category for the 2008 BBC Radio Awards. It's second only to WOMEX, which he also won as the most prestigious honors in world music. And while Andy had known about it from December - he was sworn to secrecy because it was not to have been announced until April. But because of his death, a consortium of world music journalists came together basically to force BBC to make the announcement.
It's one more great honor for this artist that literally charmed the world press. Here in Belize, it's hard to estimate how powerful a presence Andy Palacio was in international music. In November a group of international journalists came to Belize to visit him in Hopkins where Watina was crafted and in his home village of Barranco. What they took back made headlines in magazines, newspapers and television shows worldwide. Ivan Duran today discussed the worldwide media phenomenon that was Andy Palacio.
Ivan Duran, Stonetree Records
"As you probably know, Andy is by far the most interviewed Belizean ever in the international media and the many interviews on a weekly basis, from phone interviews to emails to on camera, live shows - every city that he went at least he did one or two live appearances and he was very diligent and very disciplined also because its hard work. That is one aspect that very few know. What it takes to be on the news is actually is a hell of a job and Andy did that magnificently. I know this from various sources, including a lot of the journalists that interviewed him; that Andy is one of the best artists ever for them in terms of interviews and the quality of the interviews and he was very eloquent. He always thought it was very important to communicate his story; the story about Andy Palacio, the story about his people, his music, his country.
Andy was on a mission and for him this was a life or death situation. For Andy, I heard it say so many times, we have to do this. He would never say no
to anything. I never heard Andy complaining that his agent booked him two shows in a day or that because of tour logistics, they would have to drive ten hours to the next city because there were no flights to connect. I never heard Andy complaining in a small town in Europe there were no big hotels and they had to stay in a guest house with one bathroom for three rooms.
All this wasn't an accident. All these great things that happened and that were continued to happen, because 2008 was meant to be his biggest year yet. The tour that we had lined up for him was even much more impressive than the one in 2007. It is a great great loss for Belize and it is a great loss for the Garifuna community. But also I think it makes even more important, it makes it even more urgent for us to come together and see in which way we can pay tribute to Andy and make sure that we continue his mission."
Another decision that was made before his passing was that Andy Palacio will be on the cover of the new BTL phone book. That was decided in December. He will also be on the cover of Beat Magazine from Los Angeles and Global Rhythm from New York both - again - decided before his untimely passing.
