Riverview Rotary in Belize Again
Posted by Roman Bayrock
on Mar 24, 2014
This February, members of our Riverview club visited the country of Belize, this time armed with some pretty nifty stuff.
Their addictive hypnotic drumming beats drown out their young singing voices. So, with that in mind I am very pleased to have presented to them on behalf of Riverview Rotary 4 stereo amplifiers with microphones. They were almost brought to tears when, as a bonus we brought out a hot air popcorn popper with lots of popcorn and bags to sell to raise some funds for their group.
All had a great time as you can’t just tap your toes to the beat. You gotta get up and dance! Seems my twerking skills need some work. That’s for next time.
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March 19, 2014
To our Friends with the Rotary Club of Edmonton Riverview,
We want to express our heartfelt thanks for the kind donation of four amplifiers for the young people in the Lebeha Tuteme Band (tuteme is Garifuna for future). These youths, all primary school students, are dedicated to learning their traditional drumming and following the example set by their predecessors (now in their 20's) in the Lebeha Drummers. This highly successsful group, now a full time professional drum group and featured on most Belize tourism photos, was in the same position as the Tuteme Band when the Drumming Center was started ten years ago.
The donation of this euipment has helped them realize that there are people who care about them, their music and their culture. This feeling of importance has given them added incentive to practice regularly and they have wasted no time in learning how to use this new technology.
Please stay tuned to our facebook page for photos of these enthusiastiac young people and follow the future of Garifuna music.
Regards,
Jabbar Lambey & Dorothy Pettersen
Directors
Lebeha Drumming Center & the Tuteme Band members