James Lovell (right) and the AfriGarifuna Youth Ensemble photo by Yeshvir Daamineni.

As a class of drumming students chase their teacher’s rhythm in the next room, James Lovell explains the need to protect the history of his people, the Garifuna.

“I’m trying to preserve, uplift and put pride back into the Garifuna people through music,” he says in a raised voice due more to passion than any need to speak over the drums. “It’s vital that the kids learn their history and language, or it will certainly fade away into extinction.”

The Garifuna are the descendants of Yellow Caribs, Arawak Caribs, and blacks from West Africa. They were the dominant population on St. Vincent for over a century until the British invaded and exiled them in 1795 after many years of battles. They eventually populated a bend of the Central American coast through Guatemala, Honduras, and Belize.

Lovell, a former marine who now works with special ed students for the Department of Education, has played music since he was a child and knows multiple instruments. He’s taken those skills and applied them to educating his people about their history. Using the pleasure and the repetitive aspects of music, he teaches children the Garifuna language and engages them in their roots. But the music itself is also a focus in these classes. He teaches how to use a drum, its purpose, and how to properly maintain it.

	Garifuna settlement area in yellow, after expulsion from St. Vincent. As many as 100,000 descendants may live in New York. (Linguist List)

The twice-a-week classes currently consist of members from his performance group, the AfriGarifuna Youth Ensemble, but they are open and free to the public. They are taught at the Biko Transformation Center, a non profit arts collective on Granite St. “I’m indebted to Biko, because the free space they offer me opens the door for me to do all of this,” Lovell says. The Ensemble often gives performances to educate and entertain, and the next show will be on Sat., April 10th, at the Liberty Hall Cathedral of Praise in Canarsie.

Although it’s unclear how many Garifuna remain, there is an effort underway to find out. The Garifuna Coalition USA, a national organization based in the Bronx, is publicizing the need for Garifuna people to identify themselves on the census return. They think there are possibly 100,000 in New York.

Efforts in New York to tell the story of the Garifuna people go way back. The first known play by an African American, “The Drama of King Shotaway,” was a story told in 1823 about a Garifuna chief named Joseph Chatoyer who lead the revolt against the British in St. Vincent.

The culture is one in need of public awareness. UNESCO awarded Garifuna culture a title of “Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.” The title is a recognition of exemplary living cultures that communicate a cultural identity passed on through oral tradition and at risk of disappearing. The biggest threat to the culture is that the language remains undocumented, and is only formally taught in one Belizean village.

A native of Belize himself, Lovell only learned to speak the language of his people because his grandparents spoke it.

“In Belize, we weren’t taught our history. I learned through curiosity,” he recalls. “When I was about 20 years old, I started reading anything and everything I could find about my people.”