Belize Bandfest 2007

Marching bands from around the country lined up in Belize City on Saturday morning ready to compete in Band Fest 2007. About a dozen bands paraded from the Southside to Marion Jones stadium. Dressed in uniforms of all colors the bands stepped to punta-rock and salsa cadences. The upbeat mood really got the crowd involved.

The typical Belizean marching band consists of a colorguard with batons and a drumline; very few wind instruments if any. Music education does not have a strong presence in Belize yet, so most of the students cannot read sheet music and the drumlines play their own cadences. The few bands with a trumpet made some noise (not of musical quality).

St. Luke's Methodist Primary School of Belize City (last year's champion of Bandfest) added recorders to their band this year. Peace Corps Volunteers Grant and Annaliza Thomas have been working with the school's music program; they played 'When the Saints Go Marching In.'

Visiting bands from Guatemala and Honduras were also featured in the parade. Instituto Evangelico Bethel from Honduras was hailed as the number one marching band in Central America by the announcer. I think they sounded good, but not on the same level as the Marshall Tiger Marching Band (my high school marching band). Colegio Osorio Sandoval, from Guatemala was equally as good as the Honduran band.

Another great marching band to mention is the Stella Maris School -Belize Academy for the Deaf. They were a led by a banner that read "Futuristic Trendsetters Marching Band."

In the afternoon there was a field competition. The stadium was full and Prime Minister Said Musa was in attendance, while the bands stood in block formations for the opening ceremony. A bugle corps, Banda de Geurra, visiting from Mexico performed a traditional military-style show. After a few speeches the visiting bands played the national anthems for Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico; Belize's national anthem was played by a DJ through the sound system. Shortly afterwards it started raining, which delayed the show for a while.

The marching band field competition is new to Belize, this being the second year of Bandfest. Each band was given fifteen minutes for their field performance. They appeared semi-rehearsed and I wasn't impressed with the marching. The drumlines stood in place a lot of the time while the colorguard did their dance routines until the announcer called the time.

A few of the schools put on a performance that resembled a field show. St. Luke's marched formations (including the letters S &L) and the drumline played in control so I could still hear the recorders from the stands. One my favorite performances of the day was Mt. Carmel Marching Band from Benque; their show started with Belize's National Anthem on bells. They went on to win first place in the Primary School Division and second overall.

The champion of the day was Succotz Festival Drum Corp (pictured below). Their show had a great Latin rhythm. Succotz, a small village in the Cayo District, has a great music teacher, many students with musical talent, and a lot of proud band parents. They had more than one band representing Succotz. I sat among the Succotz crowd in the stadium who were waving school pennants. I was radiant with glitter before the end of the show.

The visiting bands, which did not compete, also put on great field shows. Their brass sections were large and in charge; especially the trumpets (that's my kind of marching band). And just when everyone was ready to go home, Instituto Evangelico Bethel started playing Bob Marley tunes and the whole crowd got on their feet and sang along. Check out more of the action on my Flickr photo album.