And from Wall Street back to downtown Albert Street, Naphty, a longtime fixture and founder of the "Drums Not Guns" program is raising a fuss about the loss of his business place. After years of dislocation from his bridgefoot location and being given the run around by successive councils - Napthy is speaking out tonight.
Tonight Cherisse Halsall takes a look at the bridgefoot location that was Belize African Connection, and what happens when refurbishments in service of city aesthetics kick cultural artists off their curb.
If you'd walked across the swing bridge on any weekday in 2018 you might have been greeted on the other side by the melodic strains of a saxophone or the joyful beating of creole drums.
It was a bubbling over of cultural expression that was all thanks to Belize African connection, a cultural cornerstone of the downtown area for over 20 years.
But that was then and this is now. Now, the corporate whitewashing of the area around the city council has no room for all that cultural expression and it's left the family behind Belize African Connection without a cultural hub to call their own.
Naphty, Founder, Belizean African Connection
"Thing about bridge foot it was always a peace initiative, that's why even the --how do we keep our peace. From 1997 we were at the foot of the bridge. And, you know we do music arts and crafts so tit's been an ongoing training and a lot of youths came through bridge foot because we are at the center of town and all the schools we could say baptist, Holy redeemer, Saint Mary's Wesley, the all came there and all the time the thing that amazed them was the drums, because they say I want beat, I want beat."
Many would say that Belizean African connection was one of the last remnants of creole influence in what may be the most trafficked spot in the nation.
Cherisse Halsall
"You had a building there, yeah three shutters I mean it was like I was in the street but I had three shutters, I pull up my shutters and there was all my stuff, different thing that you can work on because we do music arts and crafts, we build drums, we build different weaving."
Naphty, Founder, Belizean African Connection
"The reality of the shop being moved, the commercial center which is the City Council's building and office was being renovated and it was a matter of work and we had to vacate the premises, now that premises at the foot of the bridge was our investment it is not the city that built it so when they started doing the refurbishing they knocked down the building."
And just before they did that Mayor Darell Bradley semed non-commital on what Nafty had or hadn't agreed to.
And back then Naphty claimed to have had issues with his one dollar a day lease, a lease that had initially been a partnership.
Naphty, Founder, Belizean African Connection
"It was alleged that I am squatting, I am squatting on somebody's land spite arises behind that."
But for Naphty's son Musa Shaheed, Belizean African Connection was more than just a livelihood it was a way of life
Musa Shaheed, Co-Owner, Belize African Connection
"We grew up very skillful with Abba, like Abba trained us in all that he basically knew, you know, like he knew carpentry and he knew sheet rocking building on a whole, he knew music like the palm of his hands arts and crafts like the palm of his hands and he just like I don't know if I was the older sibling, son, that's why he drilled it into me, like I don't know, he drilled it into me pretty good like I can't run from it now. Now, you cross the bridge all you see are drunks, drunk, drunk, drunk, dirt, dirt, dirt, dirt, I mean that isn't a good sight for downtown. A bridge is in the way of where our shop was is not my issue just give us back our shop, even if it is somewhere near where it used to be even if it is downtown, somewhere, where the attraction is, the location is very ideal where we have so if you put us, if your going to relocate us, relocate us somewhere whereby we still have the same calibre of attraction whereby tourists."
Today this cultural creator is several hundred yards from bridgefoot and struggling to recapture the magic that he once made beating drums at the riverside.
Still negotiations with the city council continue.
Naphty, Founder, Belizean African Connection
"A meeting is pending but they have to take it serious, they can't just think that we are not significant. It's very important to tell the public and and even the politician and the Mayor and everyone, we don't buy and sell, we create so it's made in Belize that's different than you know buy and sell --all of that is very important."
And while we can all agree that there is importance in passion and artistic expression, there are also economic concerns, because in 2023 where inflation is rampant and commercial rents are sky high, a new lease in the downtown area won't be anything like it was way back when.
We'll keep following this story.
