Wanaragua is a dance performed by the afro-indigenous Garifuna people across the Caribbean coast of Central America manifesting a history of resistance against colonizers. However, due to a lack of standardized education in the Garifuna language, the songs are at risk of disappearing.
"Searching for the Songs of Wanaragua" is a short documentary following a Honduran Garifuna teacher and an American filmmaker as they travel across Honduras to record and translate Wanaragua songs to use as teaching tools to help ensure the survival of the endangered Garifuna language.
SEARCHING FOR THE SONGS OF
WANARAGUA
AN ADVENTURE INTO GARIFUNA CULTURE
WATCH TRAILER
THE FILM
A look behind the scenes of language preservation
In 2023 Cesar Vargas Sabio, a Honduran Garifuna teacher, and Eli LaBan, an American filmmaker, spent 3 months traveling across Honduras recording traditional Wanaragua songs to support Garifuna language preservation. "Searching for the Songs of Wanaragua" is a short documentary showing the behind the scenes process of documenting these rare songs, and the people who still sing them, for the first time.
THE HISTORY
Preserving history and heritage
Legend has it that the Garifuna are descended from
West Africans who escaped shipwrecked slave ships near the island of St. Vincent. They assimilated with the indigenous communities on the island over the course of a century, creating a unique afro-indigenous language and culture. When the British colonizers arrived, they fought back fiercely and were exiled to Honduras in 1797.
Today, Garifuna communities can be found along the Caribbean coast of Central America, with Honduras home to the largest population in the world. They maintain their ancestral language, music and culture while facing growing threats to their territory and way of life. The preservation of the Garifuna language is an existential priority for communities to maintain their cultural identity, increase civic engagement and assert ethnic land rights.
Wanaragua is one of the most important Garifuna musical genres, manifesting a history of resistance against colonizers. Its survival is at grave risk as a result of the accelerated disappearance of the Garífuna language. The interruption of transmission of the language from parents to children and the lack of opportunity for language teaching in the school curriculum means that if rescue measures are not taken, neither the next generation of Garifuna nor the world will have access to this UNESCO “masterpiece of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity."
THE MISSION
Building an archive of learning resources
The goal of the project is to create the first free and publicly accessible archive of audiovisual recordings and resources to learn Wanaragua songs. These short songs make great teaching tools for children because they are easy and fun to learn, but contain poetic lyrics that invite deeper analysis and discussion about the Garifuna traditions and history contained within. This archive will consist of lyric videos and short documentaries about the elders that maintain the tradition, lyrics transcribed in Garifuna, Spanish and English, and the behind the scenes documentary to share the process and inspire others to start their own projects in Honduras and beyond.
The Search Continues
The effort to document rare traditional Garifuna songs is still ongoing. Most recently, the team started recording additional endangered genres of song such as Abeimahani and Arumahani, and expanded the project to Belize with a filming trip in 2025. Watch this space for more updates coming soon!
100+
SONGS RECORDED & TRANSLATED
16
COMMUNITIES ENGAGED
18
VIDEOS SO FAR