Various Artists: Paranda, African Music in Central America

Paranda, African Music in Central America (Detour 3984-27303; 52:59) contains some exotic sounds and crosses seemingly odd musical junctures, but it also tells a cultural tale. While African influences are paramount in much of South America’s musical heritage, and a solid, well-known part of the mix in Cuban and Haitian music, their role in Central America is something different: a shipwrecked slave ship, escaped slaves and the resulting blend of African and native Arawak Indians created the hybrid culture of Garifuna.