The story of the Original Turtle Shell Band serves as the bridge between the evolution of traditional Punta and Punta rock, in its infancy in the late 1970's, reflected the struggles of the minority Garifuna population.

This new movement was given life by musiciens who were willing to pay homage to their ancestors and traditional culture. It was led by Garifuna Belizean artist Pen Cayetano whose Dangriga based art studio became the nucleus of the development of Punta rock from purely traditional form. Cayetano quest to fuse traditional rhythms with Rastafarian ideologies and sprinkle it with a novel percussion instrument, the turtle shells, served as an appropriate back-drop to the country's own quest for its independence. Having rejected colonial music forms, Cayetano and his group consciouly sought to create all of their own performance materiel using their own everyday lives sources of inspiration.

The band first became known as the Turtle Band and by 1980 its popularity had spread from the mostly Garifuna-populated Dangriga in the south to the capital Belmopan, and then to Belize City. The band perfomed in "ramjammed" night clubs, was the main attaction at football games and even created a new sub-culture of setting up road blocks and "jamming" in the streets. Punta Huyama chronicles the undeniable acceptance of Punta Rock by the Belize City population. The song was spontaneously composed by Cayetano during a performance at the Belize City Central Park and as its lyrics indicate, the Punta Rock party kept on "jamming"in spite of the heavy rain showers that washed the crowd.The trio on this recording represents the second generation of The 0riginal Turtle Shell Band. They are the protéges and blood relatives of Cayetano and performed with him until he migrated from Belize.

The group represents as small but growing population of Rastafarian Garinagu who identify with the Rastafarian lifestyle of living close to the land. Part-time musicians and part-time farmers, The Original Turtle Shell Band is the equivalent of Jamaïcan Nayabinghi. They remained true to the music by keeping integral elements such as the call and response patterns, and documenting various aspects of the culture whether culinary as in Wabouga or spiritual as in Obou. Obou opens with the customary Rastafarian affirmations, then goes on to declare that a look back into history will reveal that God is black. The song ends by paying tribute to Nelson Mandela and the Belizeans leaders Thomas Vincent Ramos, Isabel Flores and Pen Cayetano. Africa continues in the same vein with an invitation to travel to the motherland Africa; this song is punctuated with the blowing of the conch shell which was traditionaly used to call members of a village from distant places.  The rhythms of the drums change on Niyawit and Sacred Chant from Punta and Paranda to the traditicional triple- metered and mostly religious Hungu-Hungu. The chanted lyric in Niyawit pay tribute to Thomas Vincent Ramos, fighter for garifuna rights and Sacred chant tells of the group's mission to share their language, their culture and their drums with the world. With tales full of triumph over struggles, how could they not be heard?

                        Gina Scott, Belize City, February, 1996