In 1978, a young artist named Pen Cayetano attended a ceremony honoring Thomas Vincent Ramos, the Garifuna pioneer who had convinced the government to establish Garifuna Settlement Day. During the event, Cayetano noticed some younger people singing Garifuna songs with a worldly rhythm—and an idea was born.
Working from his art studio at 5 Moho Road in Dangriga, Cayetano began experimenting with combining traditional Garifuna Punta rhythms with electric guitars and the distinctive sound of turtle shells. By 1979, he had formed the Turtle Shell Band with fellow musician Mohobub Flores.
The band perfected their sound through "roadblocks"—impromptu street performances in Dangriga—before taking their music to Belmopan and Belize City in 1982. That same year, they recorded their first sessions at Radio Belize, capturing the raw energy of a genre in its genesis.
Punta Rock gave the Garifuna people a global platform to express their cultural identity while appealing to younger generations. The music spread throughout the Garifuna diaspora in Honduras and the United States, and gained international recognition when the Turtle Shell Band performed at the New Orleans Jazz Festival in 1983 and 1986.
Today, Punta Rock remains Belize's most distinctive musical contribution to the world, and Pen Cayetano is honored as its creator and the "King of Punta Rock."