| Brukdown |
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| Stylistic origins |
Kaiso - Call and response - Burru |
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| Cultural origins |
19th century Kriol music, West African music, English and Scottish folk music |
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| Typical instruments |
accordion, drums, banjo, guitar, bass guitar, dingaling bell, donkey's jawbone played by running a stick up and down the teeth, grater, Boom Drum, turtleshell snare |
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Brukdown is a genre of Belizean music. Its best-known performer and innovator, Wilfred Peters is regarded as a Belizean national icon. The word brukdown may come from broken down calypso, referring to the similarities between brukdown and Trinidadian calypso music; the presence of large numbers of Jamaicans in Belize also led to an influence from mento music.
Brukdown is a Kriol mixture of European harmonies (Accordion), African syncopated rhythms and call-and-response format and lyrical elements from the native peoples of the area. In its modern form, brukdown is rural folk music, associated especially with the logging towns of the Belizean interior. Traditional instruments include the banjo, guitar, drums, dingaling bell, accordion and a donkey's jawbone played by running a stick up and down the teeth, and also a grater. Brukdown remains a rural, rarely recorded genre. This genre of music has primarily African elements, while the only significant European element, is the Accordion.
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