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During the 1930s, Trinidad was still a colony of Britain. Africans were denied all the benefits of civil society. They had no rights and were unequal before the law. The British made every attempt to strip them of their culture. In their quest to find instruments to use in their festivities, a few Africans, who resided in the surrounding urban districts of Port of Spain, invented the steelpan. The steelpan evolved out of the climate of white supremacy, racism and colonialism that existed in Trinidad in the 1930s. In the early 1930s, the Africans attempted to create a musical instrument by using discarded biscuit drums, caustic soda drums, dustbins and any other steel drum they could get their hands on to accomplish that goal.
On VJ day the nation awoke to the sounds of steelbands like Invaders, Rising Sun, Hell Yard, Desperadoes and Free French. That celebration provided the impetus to the Africans to merge their creation with the national carnival celebrations. They came on the road with their crude instruments created from the oil drums and played them to large onlookers. Later, in the early 1950s the steelpan was refined and tuned properly by Ellie Mannette. Ellie Mannette, then leader of the Invaders Steel Orchestra, based his styling on musical 4th circles and added more notes to the steelpan making it the instrument that we know today. Today, the steelpan plays all types of music, including classical, reggae, jazz, latin and calypso. It has been a part of jazz ensembles and has accompanied popular singers. | |||||
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