In 2001, Garifuna music, dance, and language were collectively proclaimed as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.
[1] Nonsecular musical genres within the Garifuna culture stem from a fusion of West African ancestral worship and Amerindian shamanism.
[citation needed] The drums are constructed using mahogany or mayflower wood and animal skins (usually deer, goat, or peccary).
[citation needed] During construction, the drums are rubbed with a cassava wine and then subsequently blessed with the smoke of buwe—a sacred herb.
[citation needed] The gender roles documented in the musical performances of dügü suggest that traditional Garifuna society emphasizes matrilineality and matrifocality.