Music, over the years, had somehow become almost a basic need. Everywhere people go, whatever they do, songs are part of it. For every mood, they associate it with a certain song. For every experience there is always music involved. You even have soundtracks in movies or your own life story.
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.
But the few who does, appreciates it well enough to know how versatile it can be. And the instrument is not something easy to learn. It would take an experienced musician to play it, because this kind of thing is much more complex than just listening to songs. Or playing the string instruments.
Sometimes referred to as steel drums, they emerged somewhere in the nineteen thirties. Some metal objects like paint pots, including car parts, dust bins and oil drums were widely used as percussion instruments but somehow, artists found a way to tune them. Over the years, there have been several version of its development that it is difficult to get the exact date.
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.
And to think those people had no training, because at the time, at those hard times, you had to learn among yourselves. The war was not helping and the government associated lit with criminal acts because of the loud noise it produces. Clashes suddenly became common among groups who played them. Violence was not avoided but not for long.
After that, it had become an accepted not only in the music industry but as an art form as well. That had been a defining moment for the island it had came from because steel band was identified as a big part of its culture. Rightfully so, the pans became their national instrument. They later on played a big role in the independence of Trinidad.
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.
Being an integral part of social life, even everyday life, there seems to be no end as to how songs or rhythm in instruments like steel drums will be created. It is part of the culture and identity of almost any country. And the pan is one nice lesson to remember how it can be as revolutionary as it is artistic.
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.
But the few who does, appreciates it well enough to know how versatile it can be. And the instrument is not something easy to learn. It would take an experienced musician to play it, because this kind of thing is much more complex than just listening to songs. Or playing the string instruments.
Sometimes referred to as steel drums, they emerged somewhere in the nineteen thirties. Some metal objects like paint pots, including car parts, dust bins and oil drums were widely used as percussion instruments but somehow, artists found a way to tune them. Over the years, there have been several version of its development that it is difficult to get the exact date.
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.
And to think those people had no training, because at the time, at those hard times, you had to learn among yourselves. The war was not helping and the government associated lit with criminal acts because of the loud noise it produces. Clashes suddenly became common among groups who played them. Violence was not avoided but not for long.
After that, it had become an accepted not only in the music industry but as an art form as well. That had been a defining moment for the island it had came from because steel band was identified as a big part of its culture. Rightfully so, the pans became their national instrument. They later on played a big role in the independence of Trinidad.
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.
Being an integral part of social life, even everyday life, there seems to be no end as to how songs or rhythm in instruments like steel drums will be created. It is part of the culture and identity of almost any country. And the pan is one nice lesson to remember how it can be as revolutionary as it is artistic.
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