After the Canboulay Riots in the early 1880s in which Trinidadian and Tobagoan descendants of slaves protested colonial leaders’ attempts to restrict the celebration of Carnival, British authorities banned stick-fighting and African percussion music. In 1937 they also banned the banging together of bamboo sticks. Trinidadians responded by using anything and everything else as percussion instruments — frying pans, dustbin lids and oil drums. This developed into the modern genre of “steelpan,” whose
primary percussion instrument is the interior of a tuned steel drum. About the steelpan | The science of steelpan | Wanna buy a steelpan? | A whole lotta people playing steelpan on YouTube
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