World Steelpan Day: The impactful Caribbean musical instrument with African roots

On August 11th, the global stage resonates with the vibrant, metallic echoes of Trinidad and Tobago's most iconic invention: the steelpan.

Historians document the steelpan musical instrument as an invention of enslaved Africans in the 1800s, who used drumming as a form of communication and cultural expression.

A steelpan, often called a "pan" or "steel drum", is played using a pair of straight sticks tipped with rubber; the size and type of rubber tip vary according to the class of pan being played, the UN says in a commemoration statement on Monday. 

The musical instrument, also called an ‘announcing instrument’, is deeply intertwined with other African diaspora instruments such as the ‘talking drums’ of West African cultures – used for ceremonies, storytelling, and, crucially, long-distance communication.

Historians say Westerners involved in brutal slavery, fearing organised rebellion, repeatedly banned traditional African drums, but enslaved Africans in the Caribbean ingeniously adapted, finding rhythm and voice in unconventional percussive tools, eventually leading to the creation of the steelpan instrument.