I was in the Caribbean in 1998/1999 for three weeks - visited Barbados, Guyana, and Trinidad/Tobago (the latter being the birthplace of steel drums). When we were there, the bands were practicing and getting ready for Carnival, although we never got to hear them. In restaurants it wasn't unusual to hear the music on the sound system, or piped into a mall - we were in Barbados the week before Christmas, and carols were often played on them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steelpan
http://www.steelbands4u.co.uk/
My son was married in Guyana, and at the reception there was a steel drum band; as I recall there were twenty-two musicians plus a conductor. The sound of the orchestra was absolutely exquisite and captivating.
They played the old standards from the twenties, thirties, and forties (Gershwin, Hart, Rogers, etc).
There is a local busker here that has a pan (the proper name) with about six or eight notes on the one pan, so it takes quite a few musicians to put together an arrangement with any complexity.
Glenn
Last edited by Glenn NK (20-02-2012 07:17)
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Procrastination Week has been postponed. Again.