Punta Rock

Punta Rock is a style of music from the Central American Caribbean coast that combines traditional Punta rhythms with modern pop music. According to the geographical distribution of the Punta, Punta Rock is played and heard almost exclusively in the Garifuna settlement areas in Belize , Honduras and Guatemala as well as in US cities with significant Garifuna communities.

history

The Garifuna, mixed race from West African slaves and Caribs , settled in their present settlement areas in the 19th century. They brought with them the punta dance, a fertility dance of African origin, which was accompanied percussively by means of drums, maracas and turtle shells used as percussion instruments. In the 1970s, the acceptance of traditional music sung in Garifuna decreased among the only English-speaking youth. One of the first to combine the punta rhythms with modern instruments was the Belizean painter Pen Cayetano , who founded the Turtle Shell Band in 1979 and specialized in traditional music and music. a. gave it a modern look through the use of electric guitars. In the period that followed, other musicians, e.g. B. Gerald "Lord" Rhaburn, elements from Calypso , Soca , Reggae , Merengue , Salsa and Hip-Hop in the Punta Rock and gave it its current form. In the meantime the (mostly not very demanding) texts are often held in Garifuna again, also because there has been an increased demand for national music since Belizean independence in 1981. An international hit in 1991 was the title Sopa de Caracol by the Honduran band Banda Blanca . Cities outside the Garifuna settlement area that have a lively Punta Rock scene due to a quantitatively relevant Garifuna diaspora are the major US cities of Chicago, Los Angeles and New York.

Performers

Well-known musicians and bands who (also) play Punta Rock are:

Belize	Aziatic, Pen Cayetano , Griga Boyz, Mohobub Flores, Paul Nabor, Andy Palacio , Punta Rebels, Sounds Incorporated
Guatemala	Paula Castillo
Honduras	Banda Blanca , Góbana, Aurelio Martinez

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Description of the genre by the Belizean label Stonetree Records ( memento of the original from July 28, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ↑ Punta Rock on Wisegeek.com
3. ^ Britannica.com: Belize - The Arts. Retrieved June 6, 2017 . 
4. ↑ Matices issue 37 ( Memento of the original dated November 29, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
5. ↑ LATimes.com: Punta Rock Becomes the Beat of Belize. Retrieved June 2, 2017 . 
6. ↑ BelizeMusicWorld.com: Punta Rock. Retrieved June 2, 2017 .