As I watch the Miami Heat fans beat on their pots and pans, I am reminded of how the steel drum/ steelpan began, and who first started beating on pots and pans. So, they moved from skin drum to bamboo drum (tamboo/tambour) to steel drum. The notes came much later, and the focus was on rhythm and "noise", not melody and harmony. Today, the pan from Trinidad is unlike ANY OTHER pan in the World! Yes, Miami Heat fans, yours included. Trinidad and Tobago has been there, done that. Our pans are now chromatic and much more "evolved" than the ones you are grabbing from your kitchen racks. You see, "In Africa, we invented the talking drum. In Trinidad, we invented the steel drum." And as you embrace the steelpan, NEVER forget its African roots and influences. Oh, and congratulations to the Miami Heat. (Sorry haterz!!! lol.) Hotep/Peace.
Reply
We hear with our ears, and listen with our hearts. If that be true, I will gladly listen to you. As you improvise on your instrument, I am allowed inside your spirit; a place where, normally, I would not be invited. As we harmonize together in syncronization, we become the collective voices of the Unseen; that which, though cannot be touched, touches our innermost "ear", which is known as our hearts. Is anyone "listening"...
Reply
George Goddard / Blog
The Singing Drum
As I watch the Miami Heat fans beat on their pots and pans, I am reminded of how the steel drum/ steelpan began, and who first started beating on pots and pans. So, they moved from skin drum to bamboo drum (tamboo/tambour) to steel drum. The notes came much later, and the focus was on rhythm and "noise", not melody and harmony. Today, the pan from Trinidad is unlike ANY OTHER pan in the World! Yes, Miami Heat fans, yours included. Trinidad and Tobago has been there, done that. Our pans are now chromatic and much more "evolved" than the ones you are grabbing from your kitchen racks. You see, "In Africa, we invented the talking drum. In Trinidad, we invented the steel drum." And as you embrace the steelpan, NEVER forget its African roots and influences. Oh, and congratulations to the Miami Heat. (Sorry haterz!!! lol.) Hotep/Peace.
Reply
The Art Of Listening
We hear with our ears, and listen with our hearts. If that be true, I will gladly listen to you. As you improvise on your instrument, I am allowed inside your spirit; a place where, normally, I would not be invited. As we harmonize together in syncronization, we become the collective voices of the Unseen; that which, though cannot be touched, touches our innermost "ear", which is known as our hearts. Is anyone "listening"...
Reply