Amazon.com Legend has it that the Garifuna culture sprung from the survivors of a shipwrecked slave vessel who swam ashore on St. Vincent Island in the Caribbean in the 16th century. There they intermarried with the local Carib and Arawak Indians and created a Garifuna music that blended West African drumming and Caribbean Indian group singing. The culture spread to Belize and Honduras and then to North American cities with emigration. Chatuye is a 10-man Garifuna band of Belizean and Honduran immigrants in Los Angeles. Although they sometimes play "punta-rock," a form of Garifuna with electric guitars and synthesizers, their new album "Heartbeat in the Music" is devoted to the traditional style, which consists entirely of vocals and percussion. From such minimalist materials, the band fashions an astonishingly melodic and intricate music. --Geoffrey Himes
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