Steel Drums and Steelbands: A History

241 Pages·2012·2.581 MB·English

by  Angela Smith

STEEL DRUMS AND
STEELBANDS
A History
ANGELA SMITH
THE SCARECROW PRESS, INC.
Lanham (cid:129) Toronto (cid:129) Plymouth, UK
2012
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Published by Scarecrow Press, Inc.
A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706
www.rowman.com
10 Thornbury Road, Plymouth PL6 7PP, United Kingdom
Copyright © 2012 by Angela Smith
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any
electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems,
without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote
passages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Smith, Angela, 1945–
Steel drums and steelbands : a history / Angela Smith.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8108-8342-0 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8108-8343-7 (ebook)
1. Steel drum (Musical instrument)—History. 2. Steel band music—Trinidad and
Tobago—History and criticism. I. Title.
ML1038.S74S65 2012
786.8'43—dc23
2012008207
™
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992. Printed in the United States of America
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To CJ Menge and the Inside Out Steelband community
and panmen and panwomen everywhere
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CONTENTS
Preface: Why I Wrote This Book ix
Acknowledgments xi
Permissions xiii
Introduction xv
Part I: Trinidad
CHAPTER 1
A Bit of Early History 3
CHAPTER 2
Transformation 8
CHAPTER 3
The Africans and Their Drums 14
CHAPTER 4
Creative Tension 19
CHAPTER 5
Freedom Fights 24
CHAPTER 6
Tamboo Bamboo 29
v
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vi STEEL DRUMS AND STEELBANDS
CHAPTER 7
Bamboo to Steel 35
CHAPTER 8
War Years 41
CHAPTER 9
Pan Rising 48
CHAPTER 10
Renegades 56
CHAPTER 11
Turnaround 63
CHAPTER 12
Heroes of the Nation 69
CHAPTER 13
Pan Fever 75
CHAPTER 14
Pan on the Move 85
Part II: Expansion
CHAPTER 15
Pan Comes to the United States 97
CHAPTER 16
The U.S. Navy Steel Band 108
CHAPTER 17
Pan Goes to School 115
CHAPTER 18
First American of Pan: Andy Narell 134
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CONTENTS vii
CHAPTER 19
More History in Progress 140
CHAPTER 20
Symphony on the Street 146
Appendix 1. Pan Pioneers 155
Appendix 2. Pan Innovators 167
Appendix 3. Chapter Timelines 177
Appendix 4. Questions and Topics for Group Discussion 183
Appendix 5. Selected Discography and Internet Links 188
Appendix 6. Instruments in the Steelband Family 191
Bibliography 193
Index 197
Contributors 207
About the Author 209
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Preface: Why I Wrote This Book
I
was a small-town Texas teen visiting my New York City cous-
ins when I first heard the music of a steel drum. Sitting outside, trying
to cool off on a hot, humid August night, I had my first encounter
with the sweet sound of steel.
The great steelband composer and arranger Ray Holman says that
when he first heard the instrument as a child, he was “enchanted.” As I
sat there listening to a young boy playing music on what looked like a big
bowl of rusty metal, I now know just what he meant.
A few years ago, a friend introduced me to CJ Menge, director of the
Inside Out Steelband Project in Austin, Texas. CJ taught steel drum classes
and private lessons. I immediately signed up for both and caught a bad case
of “pan fever,” which soon escalated into the more severe affliction known
as “pan jumbie”—the mysterious ailment that causes one to become fa-
natic about all things pan. I not only wanted to play the instrument and
hear its music; I wanted to learn and absorb everything I could about it.
I discovered that the steel drum—or pan, as it’s now commonly
known—was the only new acoustic instrument invented in the 20th
century. I learned that the creators of the instrument were descendents of
African slaves; the inventors were mostly young black boys in their teens.
(So was that first pan player I heard on a New York City street corner.) I
learned about the struggle, the violence, and the long road they traveled
from outcast to hero. I learned how an instrument once scorned is now
the pride of a nation.
I decided to write a book detailing the steps in this remarkable jour-
ney from shame to fame, a book that would recognize the pioneers of
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