Is it Tradition Yet?!
How long does it take for something to become a tradition? How long is it until we stop having to think about it, and it just becomes something that we expect? The Belize Tourism Board (BTB) hosted its annual Belize International Food & Music Festival (BIMFF) this past weekend. It is the third year that the festival has been hosted, and the second time it was held in La Isla Boñita, San Pedro. Last year, eyes, hearts, and minds were lit up at the Marion Jones Sporting Complex as the wall and floor at the entrance for the Festival set alight like a mini billboard at Times Square. Now for the third year in a row, the BTB has hosted the Belize International Food & Music Festival and we are just wondering- does it feel like tradition yet?
Maybe it will take a few more years before Belizeans accept that the Festival is here to stay and here to grow. Each year, for two nights in July, Belizeans and visitors alike can enjoy the best of local food and music and what is more tradition than food and music? Nothing said about music can ever be overstated because music is indescribable. Plato scribed that “music is a moral law.” Stevie Wonder explained that “music is a language we all understand” while Louis Armstrong illuminated that “all music is folk music”. Sir Thomas Beecham posited that “the function of music is to release us from tyranny and the conscious mind” but perhaps Bob Marley said it best, with the lyrics “one good thing about music is that it makes you feel no pain”. No matter who said what and how they said it, the point is music binds us, it takes a hold on us, and it uplifts us. Through this event, the Belize Tourism Board (BTB), has started a tradition of food and family, music and memories, culture and creativity. It is a tradition that promises to advance Belizean culinary and musical artistry by exposing the Belizean chef, the Belizean musician, and Belizean people to the international community and the international community to them. It is a tradition whose roots are still taking shape, clearing its path, and spreading. Like most great things, beginnings can be shaky, questionable, and even controversial. But then it becomes so accepted and expected that it becomes tradition.
If tradition is measured by how many people practice it, it is safe to say that the BIMFF is a welcomed yearly practice. This year, the event saw record-breaking crowds with international artists like Collie Buddz, Shenseea, Prince Royce, and Bunji Garlin. Belizean artists exemplified local talent. The BTB continues to foster music, talent, and tradition by ensuring that even the youngest artist have their opportunity. Leading up to the big weekend, The Reef Recording Summer Camp came to a close after eight children spent two weeks learning from local music icons like DJ Perf, Echo Middleton, and Stig da Artist. The BTB is also collaborating with NICH for the Belize Music project. Over the last three years, music has become a focal point of conversation among Belizeans who are talking about, posting about, and texting about Belizean music more than ever before. This year, people came, they ate, they listened, they enjoyed. Eyes lit up at the bright stage but so did hearts and imagination. This new annual tradition is slowly digesting- may it continue to nourish Belize’s musical and culinary economy for decades to come.
Chat again later.
Jasmine Anderson
For the Belize Tourism Board