News Americas, HOUSTON, TX, Mon. Oct. 27, 2014: Members of the Garifuna-American and immigrant community from Belize, Guatemala, Honduras in Nicaragua are mourning the passing and celebrating the life of Paul Nabor, the man identified as being the Patriarch of Garifuna Music and Culture.
Nabor died on October 22, 2014. He was an accomplished composer and musician in the genre of Paranda. A very popular figure among both younger and older generation, Nabor is being praised on social media by his community and fans.
Born on January 26, 1928 in Punta Gorda, Belize, Paul Sentino Nabor was a respected and acclaimed musician from Belize who started to sing at the age of 18. He received acclaim through Stone Tree breakthrough folkloric recording “Paranda: Africa in Central America” which featured some of the best of his generation and a new class of paranderos in the late Andy Palacio, Lugua Centeno and Aurelio Martinez from Honduras. In 2007, he performed in Andy Palacio record breaking “Watina.”
During his a tour of the Garifuna Collective in 2008, Nabor became the bands attraction and was known for the song Naguyanei.
While in New York, members of the Garifuna Community led an effort to gather local leaders from the city and state to honor his contributions to the music industry.
He was presented with proclamations declaring April 4, 2008 as Paul Nabor and Andy Palacio Day on the steps of City Hall in New York. The ceremony was joined by the office of Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion, Jr., State Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr., State Assemblyman Ruben Diaz, Jr., NYC Commissioner of Immigrant Affairs Guillermo Linares, New York City Council Member (s) Charles Barron from Brooklyn, Kendall Stewart from Brooklyn and Melissa Mark Viverito (now NYC Council Speaker) from Manhattan.
“The event at city hall in New York was not just to recognize one of the greatest composers of all time,” said Jerry Castro-Cayetano who organized the event in 2008 in New York City and is a relative of Paul Nabor. “It was also to pay tribute the legacy of an ordinary man whose talents made him an international masterpiece of culture and humanity.”
At the city hall ceremony, the crowd of close to 50 people joined Paul Nabor while he sang one of his popular songs, “Naguya Nei.”
The government of Belize will give Nabor a State funeral but no date has been announced as yet.
