From the memoirs of Adriano “Danny” Vasquez about his life in San Pedro Ambergris Caye in the early 20th Century. It deals with the one art that cuts across language, religion, race and social barriers — music.
During the Esquipulas fiesta in January, 1924, Luis Aguilar who traded up and down the Hondo River arrived in San Pedro with a passenger, Ismael G. Amaton, a Mexican Army Major on the run from political problems. ”
It was night,” Danny remembers, “when they arrived and the band from San Roman was playing. Luis and this stranger came in just as the music finished. The stranger asked if he could borrow a cornet and play with the band for one set.
“The director agreed and that night we heard the most beautiful cornet music ever performed in San Pedro.”
They learned that Amaton had been a director of the Mexican Army band in Guadalajara before he had run for his life.
“Before the night was over L.P. Ayuso, “Papa” Blake and Anastacio Alamilla made Amaton an offer. If he would stay in San Pedro and teach music they would give him a house to live in, 50 cents a week for every pupil he taught, and allow him to do private tutoring on his own. He agreed and within a year he was earning $200. a month. Not bad in a place where the average wage was $15.00 per month.
At this time Amaton was in his 40s, not quite six feet tall, medium build, brown hair and eyes. He wore a big military style mustache. He wore glasses. He was considered handsome by everyone. His clothes were always clean and neat. He drank only moderately and only lost his temper with students who made stupid mistakes or were lazy. A week following Amaton’s appearance the music school started. It was located on Front Street near today’s Holiday Hotel. From 7 to 9 each night the pupils studied.
“At first we thought we were going to learn to play instruments, but Amaton had a different method of teaching.
“No one could pick up an instrument until he had completed thirty singing lessons. We did not sing songs. We sang the notes. We had books from Spain imported by the Angelus Press. Amaton conducted the sessions with strict military discipline. When we finished the thirty singing lessons Amaton assigned us the instrument he felt we could play best.”
Actually Maestro Amaton had two bands. The Number One band was made up of seasoned musicians who knew how to play various instruments. The Number Two band was made up of beginners. He listened to Danny play the guitar and put him in the Number Two band.
The Blakes and Alamilla bought the instruments in Belize from A.E. Morlan, former U.S. Consul, and now a jeweller, watchmaker and seller of musical instruments. Belize had a number of orchestras and bands and the principal families of San Pedro were determined’hot to be thought backward and uncultured.
Amaton sent to Payo Obispo (Chetumal) for a drummer one Orosco, a very military-looking man with a great mustache. He was from Vera Cruz, but had found the climate of Payo Obispo healthier during the political troubles. Orosco brought in a set of drums — never before seen in San Pedro. The big bass drum was sounded by use of a foot pedal. The snare drum was played with sticks. There were cymbals that were worked by the foot and another that could be hit with a drumstick. And the drummer sat down to do all this. Wonderful. What would they think of next?
Amaton gave Danny a Soprano C Saxophone. Danny played the scales a couple of times and suddenly broke into “Home Sweet Home” and played it through without a mistake. Everybody was surprised, even Amaton. “Muy bueno,” he said. “Now keep quiet.”
And so they had the makings of a band — reeds, brasses, and timpani. Now the hard work began. Everybody had to learn to read the music, follow the director’s baton, start together, and finish together. It took months.
“The first piece the whole band played was a Strauss Waltz. We only had sheet music of classical music — the operas and concert pieces.
“For popular dance music, Amaton wrote all the parts for each instrument. He was a great musician. He wanted to teach me to compose, but I was only interested in playing. I regret to this day I didn’t accept his offer.”
After a while Danny got very sure of his musical ability and started missing rehearsals. One night he walked in, picked up his saxophone and was completely lost. The band had learned something new.
“Amaton embarrassed me in front of the whole band. I wanted to quit, but I knew I was at fault so I did not throw down my instrument and walk out. I also didn’t miss any more rehearsals.”
Gradually they got better. Their repertoire expanded. Finally Maestro Amaton told them they were ready for a public appearance. They would hold a concert in the park every Sunday evening from 5 to 7 o’clock.
“We did good and we were proud of ourselves and all San Pedro was proud of us too. Our reputation spread and when we started to play for fiestas people came to hear us from Belize, Corozal, and Orange Walk.
“Amaton taught us a funeral march and we liked it so much we couldn’t wait for someone to die so we could play it.” In Belize the C.O.A. Club held its anniversary dance every 31st of October. In 1926 L.P. Ayuso arranged for the San Pedro band to be invited to play for the event.
“Amaton picked 15 of us to go. I tell you it was grand. The club was on Queen Street at New Road on the second floor of a wooden building. To make the floor easy to dance on they had polished it with candle wax and talcum powder.
“Every time Orosco hit the bass drum the whole trap set moved a couple of inches forward. He would pull his chair forward. In less than an hour he was out on the dance floor. A lot of people thought this was some new way of playing and were delighted with the novelty.”
Amaton was not amused, however, and complained Orosco was drunk. And he had the trap set nailed to the floor. ”
Crowds of people jammed the streets outside to hear the music. John Wright, one of Belize’s foremost band leaders, came up to congratulate Maestro Amaton.
At midnight the band was brought food. “We found this strange. Nobody ever fed us in San Pedro. You would play all night and get a few drinks of rum but no food. “It was rice-and-beans and chicken and potato salad. We knew what rice-and-beans was. We didn’t eat it in San Pedro, but we knew it and we ate it and it was good.
The success of the C.O.A. dance brought an invitation to play at the Holy Redeemer Bazaar in December, 1926. A little boy from Corozal named Bertie Martinez dressed up in all white stood on the stage and sang.
The following year, 1927, an Agricultural Exhibition was held at Loyola Park in September. Part of the festivities was to be a band contest. San Pedro was invited to compete. The band now had 40 members — all with spanking white uniforms with gold braid, imported from New Orleans.
They left San Pedro on a miserable rainy morning. Two boats made up their party — the “Ambergris”, a two masted schooner which was making little progress because of the lack of wind, and the “Valeria”, L.P. Ayuso’s motor launch. The “Valeria” took the “Ambergris” in tow and they crawled slowly towards Belize. It was late afternoon when they tied up to the Loyola Park dock (where the Esso Terminal is now) and they only had time to eat before it was dark.
The following morning the sun rose on a calm, clear day. A half dozen large wooden platforms had been erected on the grounds. Each band was assigned to one. People had come from all over the colony to attend the Agricultural Exhibition and from early there was a stream of bicycles, people on foot, horses and buggies, and two or three cars entering the grounds.
The judges for the band contest sat on the verandah of the main college building. The bands in the contest included the “Eureka”, “L.E.C.”, “Colonial Band”, and “Imperial Band.” The “Colonial Band” was on the first platform, the “San Pedro Band” was on the last one. The rules were that each band played a piece in rotation. The contest was to last all day.
When the signal to begin was given the “Colonial Band” played the overture from the opera “Faust”. Amaton told his men, “Don’t be afraid. They are very good, but we are better.”
He turned away for a moment and then swung back, “If anyone blows a wrong note I’ll break my baton over his head.” “When it was our turn the Maestro handed out the sheet music for the overture to “La Boheme.” We clipped it on our music rack. We had practiced this piece for six weeks.
Amaton hit the podium with his baton once. we stood at attention. He hit the podium a second time. We raised our instruments to our lips. He hit the podium the third time and we played.
“Jeminiano Aguilar had a solo to play in this piece and started well but one of the valves on his horn stuck. Amaton realized what had happened in a flash and came in on the cornet to cover Jemi. “Jemi calmly unscrewed the valve, spit on it and screwed it back into the horn. He took the solo again and Amaton lowered his cornet. It had worked as if they had rehearsed it. Nobody in the audience was aware of the crisis. “When we finished the crowd cheered and clapped.”
In the second round the “Colonial Band” played from the opera “Carmen”. Amaton chose the opera “Cavalleria Rusticana”. The other bands had run out of classic music to play. Waltzes were ordered for the third round. The “Colonial Band” played “Tales from the Vienna Woods”. San Pedro played “The Blue Danube.”
When marches were called for in Round Four the other bands played military marches. Amaton directed “La Virgen Macareiia”, a paso doble, played in Spain at bull fights. During a lull in the festivities a little Creole boy came up to the band, stared and said, “A very good Mexican band.” Amaton who could not speak English thought the boy was being critical. He looked very serious and said, “Tu madre band.” The little boy smiled and said, “You’re welcome,” and walked away.
“Amaton wouldn’t let us leave the bandstand,” Danny says. “We stood there all day with no food, no water. And we outplayed all the others.” The Fifth Round was popular music. The “Colonial Band” played a Shottish and San Pedro answered with a Mazurca. And it went on like this until late afternoon. Finally it was over. While the judges conferred and the other musicians put away their instruments, Amaton ordered San Pedro to play a series of Danzones from Yucatan.
Of course San Pedro won the contest. The prize was a miniature lyre made of silver and mounted on a piece of marble with a brass plate — “First Prize — Band Contest -Agricultural Exhibition Loyola Park 1927″.
But there was more honour yet to come. While the tired band members ate at the S.J.C. dining room, it was announced that they would play that night at the Belize Golf Club (where the Pickwick Club is now) at a dance for the Governor and his party.
“And there we found ourselves at nine o’clock at night. Forty of us on the verandah of the Belize Golf Club with a cold north wind blowing and inside the Governor and about a dozen other people. “They were nice and offered all the band food and drinks on the house. We drank rum, then whiskey, finally champagne — something new for all of us. One of the boys called for cigars and we all had one. “We played until almost daylight and they went off to sleep.” The Loyola Park performance was the highlight of the San Pedro Band Association’s career under Amaton.
Soon afterwards the Amatons left San Pedro, and without its leader the band eventually disintegrated.
Copyright Emory King 2010 – Reprinted by Permission - All Rights Reserved
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