On the island of Trinidad, a once-humble instrument has inspired an academic specialty Satanand Sharma’s voice never rises as he gently reprimands a pair of students, guiding and cajoling them through ...

Henry Potter directing Tamboo Bamboo as they rehearse for the annual "Panorama" steel band competition before the Miami Broward Carnival. Henry Potter was a 10-year-old in the Virgin Islands when he ...

EGG HARBOR – Hear the unmistakable sound of a steel pan, aka steel drum, and you must be listening to music of the Caribbean or South Pacific, right? Not necessarily so, says Liam Teague, and he plans ...

The steel pan’s cheerful yet melancholic chime has mesmerized Mike Kernahan since he was a young boy growing up near the oil fields of Palo Seco, Trinidad. It is in his blood, he says – his two uncles ...

The steel drum, also called the steel pan or just pan, is surely one of the most unusual and versatile musical instruments in the world. The clangy sound of a steel band performing during carnival in ...

Many Brooklyn residents say they're starting to hear Soca and Dancehall music blasting from cars or see Caribbean flags proudly hung. In Canarsie, the Pan Evolution Steel Orchestra is preparing to ...

Jonathan Scales has climbed many mountainous obstacles to become the steel pan composer he is today. An unconventional choice on an unconventional instrument — how could he know it would even work?

Thundering. Clangoring. The air around me throbs and shatters with the sound of steel pans. I'm in Queen's Park Savannah, a big patch of green in the heart of Port of Spain, capital of the island ...

A deft musician and beloved mentor, he helped keep steel-pan music — his bridge to the Caribbean — a vibrant part of New York life. He had the coronavirus. By Sam Dolnick This obituary is part of a ...

The steel pan’s history began thousands of miles away from Austin. The instrument originated in Trinidad, where French plantation owners landed in the 18th century, bringing African slaves with them.