In 1997, while performing with the Afro-Guatemalan Organization (Spanish: Organización Negra Guatemalteca, ONEGUA) in Belize, she met Ivan Duran of Stonetree Records, who produced the music of Andy Palacio.
[3] "Nibari" was the opening track of the album and earned Blanco praise as one of the "Garifuna's most accomplished voice(s)" and a comparison by Sarah Weeden of National Public Radio to the emotional performances of Edith Piaf.
[6] To promote the album and pay homage to Palacio, who died unexpectedly that same year, she toured with the Garifuna Collective giving performances in Los Angeles,[3] Belize, and then across Europe for two months.
[7] The reception of the album, sparked the creation of a band of the same name, Umalali, which was composed of members from Palacio's Garifuna Collective, featuring Blanco, Desere Diego, and Chella Torres, as singers.
[5] That same year, Blanco founded in Livingston, Iseri Laruga (New Dawn), a Garifuna youth music and dance troupe, which performs along the Caribbean coast and in central Guatemala.