Warasa Drum School

The Warasa Drum School offers a full complement of Garifuna cultural activities, all carried out by our highly experienced and professional family business.

All of our activities begin with guests being given an overview of the Garifuna culture (the history, language, arrival in Belize, music, drums and dance). This includes interaction through showing guests our drums, Garifuna flag, clothing and other Garifuna artifacts that we have at the drum school.

We offer drumming, dancing, drum-making lessons for individuals and groups of all ages, for up to 20 people at a time. We also offer professional group performances from our family group who have been performing across Belize and Central America for over 30 years.

For drumming lessons, each guest is provided with their own “segunda” or bass Garifuna drum. The teacher will demonstrate one of the most popular beats, the Paranda, showing guests how to hold and strike the drum. Once the guests are able to keep the basic beat, the teacher will start to play along on the smaller, faster “primero” drum, whilst also singing a traditional Garifuna song. The lessons progress at the pace of the students, with opportunities to explain the words, meanings and history of the different beats and songs.

Garifuna drum-making lessons are provided for groups of up to ten guests and offer guests a hands-on opportunity to see the various stages of making a Garifuna drum. Drums at various stages of construction are provided, and guests are shown how to chisel, plane and sand a drum into shape, prepare the deerskin hide, tighten the ropes etc.

Lessons are adapted to the guests’ desires and include both traditional hand-tools and more modern electric tools.
Garifuna dancing lessons are provided for groups of up to twenty guests and include the lead teacher and one or two drummers for accompaniment. Guests are shown the traditional dance moves, and the instructor explains the differences with more modern versions. The history and meaning of each dance is shown, and the male and female version of each dance is taught.

Garifuna group performances include at least four professional members (two drummers/singers and two singers/maraca players/dancers) who have combined over 100 years of experience. Our family group is one of the most respected groups in Belize, and has performed all over Belize, Guatemala and Honduras. Our founder and lead drummer, Ronald Mac Donald, has also performed at cultural events in Panama, Saint Vincent, the USA and the UK, and is a former drummer, dancer and singer for the Belize National Dance Company.
We also offer half and whole day combination packages, which are a popular way for family groups to get a full picture of Garifuna musical culture.

One of our most popular activities for guests is our half-day activity packages, where guests choose three activities (from drumming lesson, drum-making lesson, dancing lesson and group performance) and have the option of including the traditional Garifuna dish of “hudut” (fresh fish sautéed in coconut milk with mild spices, served with mashed plantain) at the end of the package for either lunch or dinner (depending on if a morning or evening half-day package has been chosen).

We also offer hudut cooking lessons with an option for professional group drumming performance at the end. During the cooking lesson, guests get the opportunity to grate fresh coconut to make fresh coconut milk, cook and pound the ripe and green plantain, and cook the fish in the coconut milk.

How to book:

Prior booking via phone, email or website is necessary at all times.