CULTURE-HONDURAS: Louvabagu, an Enduring Garifuna Achievement

By Thelma Mejía Reprint | | Print |

Thelma Mejia

TEGUCIGALPA, May 27 1997 (IPS) - With hips swaying, and voices raised in song, the Garifuna first brought their music and dance to Honduras 200 years ago.

The bicentennial celebration of the Garifunas’ arrival – from the Caribbean island of San Vicente – took place last month and, in the town of Guadalupe in the northern state of Colon, joined the celebration by presenting a stage play entitled “Louvabagu” (the other distant shore).

Louvabagu was created by Honduran dramatist Rafael Murillo Selva who, 17 years ago, decided to present Garifuna culture on the world stage. Assisted by campesinos from Guadalupe, Murillo Selva created the theater group called “Superacion Garifuna.”

Louvabagu tells the history of the Garifuna since landing in Honduras in 1797.

The play, which has been presented in Europe and Latin America, is performed by a cast of 15. In their daily lives, Louvabagu actors and actresses work as fishermen and farmers, earning a dollar a day. Louvabagu focuses on Garifuna song and dance, but also takes a look at the impact of U.S. banana interests.

Murillo Selva told IPS: “We have never relied on private or public financing, and for that reason are able to operate under a conception of ‘art’ that differs from usual standards.” The Garifuna way of “doing theater” is to “live democracy and culture.”

Garifuna society survives in a national environment where cultural stereotypes threaten to destroy “a profound Honduran truth based on the land, on race and on history,” he said.

Despite enduring success, Louvabagu will culminate its 17-year run with a June tour that aims to earn enough money to guarantee a decent living to all Garifuna players.

Murillo Selva says: “I think the time has come to close Louvabagu. Only by ending can we begin again. What better way to “strike the set” than by doing a tour which will benefit the troupe directly?”

Murillo Selva’s plan is to construct adobe and concrete houses for all 15 families comprising the troupe. He has already obtained a promise of assistance from the German government through a program that constructs modest rural housing.

Members of “Superacion Garifuna” participate directly in the construction of their homes by supplying the building site, labor and a fund of 30 thousand dollars. The Honduran Social Investment Fund also supports the housing initiative.

In 1980, Murillo Selva visited Guadalupe, a community located in one of Honduras’ most beautiful regions. He spent a year and a half saturating himself in Garifuna society and culture which resulted in the unique of “Superacion Garifuna” which expresses Garifuna culture in the context of oral history supplied by Garifuna leader Rey Satuye.

Currently, about 100 thousand Garifunas live on Honduras’ Caribbean coast. Like other small ethnic groups resident in Honduras, the Garifuna are socially and politically marginalized. Nevertheless, thanks to the international exposure brought by Murillo Selva’s dedicated work, the experience of Louvabagu has been widely acclaimed in both hemispheres.

A critic in the Paris daily “Le Monde” called “Louvabagu” a “theater of identity” and “an encounter with a unique way of seeing the world.”

According to Honduran poet Rigoberto Paredes, Louvabagu uses rhythmic dance as a platform on which Garifuna culture cries out: “We are here. What would this place be without Louvabagu?”