A typical Brukdown song may reflect the journey of the African slaves to the mahogany slave camps of Belize, but the genre has been sustained by its usefulness in spreading the word of historical and current events to the large illiterate population of Belize.
The Brukdown singer is often the bearer of news, and the words of the composer are widely accepted as fact, despite the gossip-like nature of the genre.
[1] 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.