Visiting the Zinc Fence this morning was Belizean Garifuna son of the soil, founder and legend of Punta Rock, Delvin “Pen” Cayetano. He is home from Germany for the Garifuna Settlement Day celebrations on one of his annual pilgrimages, having migrated to Germany over a decade ago. Pen arrived on Saturday, the 10th, and is scheduled to return to Germany on December 7.
There are no special promotions featuring Pen in the 19th celebrations, but his art exhibition, “Home Belize”, which is also the title of his latest CD, opened yesterday at the Mexican Institute in Belize, corner Wilson Street and Newtown Barracks, and runs until November 30.
Nevertheless, on the 19th Pen says he will be putting together a performance for the people on a blocked off portion of St. Vincent Street in Dangriga.
Chatting with the Punta Rock master for the first time, I was struck by the warmth and humility of this man who has contributed so much to the cultural survival of his Garifuna nation, and as well by his inspired conviction of the vital importance of the contribution of artists like himself to ensure the continued growth and development of the music, which is the essence that keeps the Garifuna culture alive and vibrant.
Pen is a visionary, and he values highly the ability of artists like himself to look at the life of his people through futuristic eyes. He is eternally motivated to guide and inspire his people, through his music, to be proud of their heritage and to strive to preserve and build upon what they have in the ever changing times. Music is forever growing and developing, it’s always alive, but, according to Pen, we must not forget our roots.
Though, as a professional musician he puts in a lot of work and planning during the course of each year, Pen nevertheless remains motivated and committed come the 19th season in Belize to do his part, at his own expense, to continue keeping the Garifuna Settlement Day spirit alive. His hope is to inspire the youth, and maybe some youth will follow in his footsteps, to value the original roots of Garifuna culture and music – the drums.
On Settlement Day, he says, he is not excited when he hears “boxes” beating out in Dangriga on the streetsides; what he wants to see and hear, and what many visitors to Dangriga, both local and foreign, want to see and hear on Settlement Day is the real thing – the drummers and the drums, the “drums of our fathers”. We have “boxes” and TV and computers that can play the Punta Rock all over the world, but when we come to Dangriga on Garifuna Settlement Day, we need to have the real, live thing. We must keep the “flavor”, to use his word.
My impression of Pen Cayetano, sculptor, painter, musician, is that he is all about culture, first and foremost. As we discussed the state of things in the country today, Pen tries, he says, not to dwell on the negatives in his music, but he obviously has had to overcome some setbacks and disappointments along his musical/cultural journey. Particularly painful for him, and perhaps what precipitated his decision a decade or more ago to travel the oceans, was the poor response he received for one of his greatest initiatives, an experience that hurt him deeply. He had, at his own expense, organized a grand promotion on 13th November, including performances by legendary drummer Isabel Flores and others, and the special guests were to be the primary school children of Dangriga who would participate in an educational/cultural ceremony culminating with the grand laying of a wreath on the grave of Garifuna Settlement Day founder, T.V. Ramos. Previously the wreath laying was a tradition that few people fully understood or appreciated. Pen had obviously put a lot of effort and investment into this endeavor. Alas, only one school showed up; the teachers at the others just wanted to go home when school was let out at 3:30 p.m.
I informed Pen that only yesterday I had listened to a radio broadcast of school children at the wreath-laying ceremony in Dangriga, and he seemed pleased. Perhaps, visionary that he is, Pen is just too often a step ahead of the intellectuals and social elite in his area of “roots and culture.”
Pen Cayetano was not dressed in suit and tie, nor adorned with gold and silver (his only “jewelry” was a black string esclava of small polished, coral shells), but, after our discussion was ended and he left for his radio interview on KREM, and he had offered an autographed copy of his “Home Belize” CD, I had the overwhelming sensation and conviction that the liner notes to his #4 song Wabugu Rati were no idle boast, but fully justified when they said: “We giving thanks and praises to our Chief Chatoyer, Captain Alejo Beni, National Hero T.V. Ramos, Master Pen Cayetano for their guidance and achievement towards the Garifuna culture.”
Belizeans, Muhammad Ali said he was the greatest, and the Mighty Sparrow is the unquestioned King of Calypso. Whatever title we choose to give to this cultural giant while he still lives and shares his heart and soul with us through his music, Pen Cayetano’s legacy grows each passing year, and we should not be reluctant in “giving thanks and praises” to one outstanding Belizean who epitomizes to the ultimate the KREM motto, “show weself…be weself..”. Pen Cayetano is Pen Cayetano; roots, Garifuna, Belizean.