Making Magic In Steel Pan Music

By Donald Williams


Some days people just want to escape the world with songs on their playlists. Or by playing the guitar on an otherwise ordinary day with friends. Or even when you are doing the same mundane things on a Monday morning. Whatever it is, music is undeniably part of your daily life and for good reason.

Sometimes you may even wonder how a day can go by without it. Simply unimaginable if you think about it. Among its many forms and genres, steel pan music, it is safe to say, rightfully stands out. This may be because of its simplicity and Caribbean coolness. Not everyone is familiar with it though.

Amid the rise of electronics and its popularity far back in the twentieth century, the steel pan stood out well. This can be attributed to its simplicity, because it probably is the only instrument that came from industrial waste. Nevertheless sturdy, it became an icon of the culture in Trinidad, defining it with its Caribbean roots.

Many years ago, French planters came to the Caribbean during the French Revolution, bringing their slaves with them. That included a number of Africans, building a community in the island of Trinidad. Now these people were hungry to make music and express it by beating on metals.

Even though some of the pieces they used were outlawed, like bamboo bands or banned skin drums, they went on with their trial and error process. Through endless experimenting, they finally produced the kind of pitches acceptable to the ears. While there may be so many version to its origin, it cannot be argued that it had come from that island and Tobago.

But even that had not been enough to avoid clashes between groups and enthusiasts, resulting in violence. Thankfully, it did not went on for long because as pioneers excelled in developing it, horizons had been brighter and steel drums suddenly had a good future ahead and along with other genres. Even the war could not stop people from appreciating it.

In the nineteen fiftys, it had claimed a well deserved attention, earning a decision to bring a band that produces that kind of music, to the United Kingdom as part of a very important occasion of the Commonwealth. This had defined the instrument itself as a vital part of Trinidad culture and also earned a wide respect for where it had come from.

Music, before radio was ever known, had to be produced manually by people themselves. And so they did. Everywhere during the eighteenth century, it was present in the yards of slaves and the barracks of the nineteenth. It went on, transcending into the streets in the twentieth century, playing a vital role in the freedom of countries, like how the pans served in the freedom of its island.

This usually takes during the season of Carnival where pannists gather for the Panorama, a festival known as an important event in Trinidad. Competitions across the islands are also observed during February and March. In 1992, the pan became the official national instrument of the land as it continues to enchant those who watch and listen.




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