An Apprenticeship in Garifuna Wanaragua

Sherwood Chen - Posted on 23 October 2009

Share this

Garifuna Wanaragua artists Flavio Alvarez and Carlos Gonzales from ACTA on Vimeo.

Alvarez (left) and Gonzales (right) holding a Wanaragua headdress (Belizean style) at Alvarez's garage lounge in Los Angeles.  

  Master artist Flavio "Paps" Alvarez and his grandnephew and apprentice Carlos Gonzales—both from Los Angeles— participated in the Alliance for California Master artist Flavio Alvarez (right, in blue) stands next to apprentice Carlos Gonzales (left, in yellow) and young Wanaragua dancer Omari during the New Year's Day 2009 Wanaragua procession in South Los Angeles.Traditional Arts 2009 Apprenticeship Program focusing on their work in Garifuna Wanaragua song and dance.


Wanaragua occurs every New Year's Day and Christmas, with drummers, singers and masked and costumed dancers who travel in a day-long procession from household to household. Wanaragua commemorates Garifuna ancestors, and at the same time is a tribute to historic resistance against colonialist forces. Practiced predominantly in Honduras, Guatemala and Belize within Garifuna communities, Wanaragua has also extended where the Garifuna diaspora has settled, including Los Angeles. 


Flavio "Paps" Alvarez hails from Livingston (Garifuna: Labuga), Guatemala and is a Wanaragua chief who leads and coordinates the procession each year in South Los Angeles where he has resided for over thirty years. Carlos Gonzales has been working closely with his granduncle since 2002. 


Click here to watch a video of Paps and Carlos talking about Wanaragua and their work together.

 

Article, photos, and video by Sherwood Chen, ACTA's Associate Director

 

 

 

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
By submitting this form, you accept the Mollom privacy policy.

An Apprenticeship in Garifuna Wanaragua

of
A Wanaragua mask by Flavio Alvarez (2009)

A Wanaragua mask by Flavio Alvarez (2009)

alvarez_2009_10_2

Gonzales dances Wanaragua in the "flashier and more aggressive" Honduran Wanaragua style to live drumming and singing during the Wanaragua visit to Honduras Kitchen in Huntington Park. Photo credit: Marcus Kuiland-Nazario, 2009.

alvarez_2009_10_5

Wanaragua headdress vary, depending on which region one may come from. Photo credit: ACTA, 2009.

Flavio Alvarez (in blue) and his nephew and 2009 apprentice Carlos Gonzalez (in yellow) at a Wanaragua celebration (2009)

Master artist Flavio Alvarez (right, in blue) stands next to apprentice Carlos Gonzales (left, in yellow) and young Wanaragua dancer Omari during the New Year's Day 2009 Wanaragua procession in South Los Angeles. Photo credit: ACTA, 2009.

Flavio Alvarez (in blue) at a Wanaragua celebration in Los Angeles (2009)

Alvarez and Gonzales strive to instill Garifuna language and culture in a younger generation of Los Angeles-raised Garifuna-Americans. Photo credit: ACTA, 2009.