Aurelio Martinez is a Honduran musician and politician who is also a member of the Garifuna community.
He is the first black person to become a deputy in the National Congress of Honduras.
His 2004 album "Garifuna Soul" was released internationally by Stonetree Records and won wide acclaim in world music circles.
Afropop Worldwide named it a Top 10 Album of 2004 and named Martinez "newcomer of the year."
In 2011, he released an album entitled "Laru Beya."
Acclaimed for both his preservation and modernization of this musical tradition, Aurelio’s virtuosity is found in his distinctive, penetrating vocals and his talent as a composer.
Born in 1976 into a family possessing a long and distinguished musical tradition in the small Garifuna community of Plaplaya in Honduras, at the age of six he was already playing drums at social gatherings and picking up his father’s guitar as soon as he was big enough to hold it. Inspired by his grandmother and his father, Aurelio gathered a vast repertoire, which later enabled him to develop his playing and his own style.
An original member of the Garifuna All Star Band, Aurelio has taken his Paranda music to stages in France, Japan, USA, Mexico and neighboring Central American countries.
