The crowd that packed Rich Mix in London on a Wednesday evening a few weeks ago was brimming with anticipation.

Garifuna master Aurelio Martinez was about to take to the stage and he didn’t disappoint.

Garifuna music comes from Central America, primarily on the Caribbean coast of Belize, Guatemala and Honduras — where Aurelio comes from — and Nicaragua.

The music and dance are closely related, with the main traditional instruments being drums and maracas.

It’s a heady mix — the Garifuna are descendants of West African, Central African, Island Carib and Arawak peoples.

Aurelio and his band deliver a set of his classics, spiced with compact rock’n’roll arrangements and energy where Eduardo Cedeno’s guitar riffs (eat your heart out Eric Clapton) have us all in awe, as do Onan Castillo’s solos on a Garifuna drum.

Aurelio’s voice is as strong and expressive as always as he delivers songs of sadness and hope for the world around and the plight of those forced to abandon their countries.

As the evening progresses, the symbiosis between stage and room culminates in roars of approval and a frenetic mass pogoing encouraged by Aurelio himself.

After the concert I speak to Aurelio about his work and how it is changing.

Your album Laru Beya has a wonderful song Tio Sam (Uncle Sam) in which you call for better relations of respect, fraternity and understanding between the US and Central America. Given Donald Trump’s stated xenophobic hostility, do you fear what the new president might do?

I grieve for people today escaping their countries for different reasons, especially those for whom it is a challenge to change the circumstances they and their families find themselves in.

I hope that President Trump reconsiders and that this was just an electoral campaign strategy.

I don’t believe the president would have forgotten how the building of great nations takes place but I’d remind him that US is a country predominantly of immigrants and that without their labour it wouldn’t be what it is.

And there is a historical debt with developing countries for a variety of reasons.

Trump states his belief in a loving God and compassion and if it’s true I am sure he’d reconsider his position so that US citizens and the people around the world recognise him as a great president but, above all, as a just and respectful human being.

You represented the Garifuna in the Honduran parliament but left disappointed by its politics. In Lumalali Lumaniga, another beautiful song, you talk about corruption. Are you positive or resigned about the prospects of social justice and progress of the Garifuna?

Lumalali Lumaniga and the others are songs of hope and nourishment for the Garifuna people — and others in similar predicament like the indigenous minorities — faced with the indifference of politicians uninterested in fulfilling their electoral promises or discharging their responsibilities as leaders.

Added to it are the policies of nations among whom we live — the songs are based on my experiences as a politician in Honduras, augmented by events around the world and the ancient problem of migrations which worsens from day to day with new arrivals.

You’ve put Garifuna music on the world stage — a fickle place, driven by commercial considerations, where novelty holds sway. Now that you are moving in a new direction what will happen to that musical tradition?

When I started with Garifuna music I did so out of love and never knew that we’d journey this far. I let it take me.

Now I know that, like a combatant, I was chosen by our ancestors and that others much younger will come chosen, like myself, imbued with the same spirit. I will never stop being a foot soldier of this music.

I would like to take it into other dimensions precisely because of the instability in the world, which demands change and new points of reference.

I would like the youth to have their culture and their music ready for that change without forsaking its essence.

Today, there are many people in our communities who maintain culture in its traditional form as well as young people following all we have done over the last 30 years.

My contribution is only informed by the knowledge, feelings and thoughts of my people, which comes from our ancestral credo. It doesn’t submit to, nor will it be affected by, anybody.

I am a defender of the maxim that my rights end where those of others begin.

Your music in keeping with Garifuna tradition, is both a serious and entertaining dialogue with your people. Now that you are looking for new horizons won’t they miss it’s wisdom, it’s companionship, it’s celebration?

Irrespective of how much I talk about change I will not distance myself from Garifuna music.

I am only thinking about continuing to be motivated and let other discoveries and other ideas generate new opportunities.

I don’t wish to pigeonhole this adventure as one thing or another but rather to follow, with my music, the spirit of freedom that my untamed people have.

The new direction in my music doesn’t kill my spirit and the essence of Garifuna music.

It will be a quest for arrangements, opening the door to share with other forms and cultures, with Garifuna music as a departure point.

Even though I talk of change, I’m not going to distance myself from Garifuna music.

I’m just thinking about how to stay motivated and be open to discoveries and suggestions which will lead on to new possibilities.

I don’t want to limit this adventure one way or the other. All I want to do is to stay true to my people’s spirit of freedom through my music.

In 2001 Unesco awarded the title Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity to the Garifuna language. What has it meant in practical terms for your people beyond being the acknowledgement of an existing reality?

The Unesco proposal gave tools to governments of countries where such people live to focus on the protection and preservation of their culture.

But it hasn’t gone any further. There are continued violation of human rights, in some countries more than others.

What do you consider to be the proudest moment of your life so far?

My mother’s dream was to have been an artist and that was denied to her.

So to have her singing with me on an international stage filled me with pride, just as much as when I learned for the first time that Garifuna music received an accolade as a result of my album Garifuna Soul making the top 10 in 2004.