From Past to Present: 5 Contemporary Songs that Utilize Steel Drums

In this post, we have a guest blogger—Michelle O.  She has a great blog about hip-hop production.  Enjoy!

No doubt that at this point, you’ve learned all sorts of  interesting tidbits on steel pans and their many uses in creating music. Turns out, plenty of musicians in the distant and recent past have also seen the steel pan's incredible versatility, and have utilized the instrument in a song or two. From hard rockers to pop princesses, artists have called on the steel drum to provided a boost to their bass, and a flavor to their music not normally found in other “standard” instruments.

Here are six songs that use the steel drum in interesting and creative ways, all differentiating in genre and usage. Hope you enjoy!

Lykke Li - Little Bit

Indie pop swooner Lykke is well known for her affinity for crunching synths and cool exterior. 2012’s “Little Bit” softens her sound with the inclusion of the steel pan, which dominates most of the bass beat of the song. Although much of the song relies on digital instrumentation, the steel pans warm, bold sound indicates that it may have been recorded as a live track.

The Knife - Pass it On

The grooving, Caribbean-style beat of “Pass it On” makes for the perfect environment for the steel pan. It might seems strange to witness the mix of electronica and Caribbean, but such experimentation is pretty standard for The Knife. The Swedish electronica pop band weaves the use of the pan seamlessly with soft synths and rattling 808s.

Fatima Al Qadiri - D-Medley

Fatima Al Qadiri is an Iranian-born, New York based producer. She often makes work that could be filed under a variety of genres: dubstep, drone, electronica, and even rap. Much like The Knife, Al Qadiri seeks to evoke a Caribbean vibe with “D-Medley,” where the steel pan feels like an afterthought in her beat. The producer’s generous reference to “electro-tropicalia” - a subgenre of electronica that favors Brazil’s tropicalia movement - makes her use of the steel pan suitable, yet unique.

M.I.A. - Bingo

Fans of this feisty rapper will instantly recognize her choppy, blunt drumming style from her Kala era, and the steel pan is all too familiar. Known to fans and critics alike as her “breakout hit,” Kala the album properly introduced a then-29-year-old M.I.A. to a world without whistling samples, bone-rattling bass, and yes...even the steel pan! Although “Bingo” never made the album’s final cut, it still gained traction as part of the album’s B-sides collection.

Jamie xx - Far Nearer

Usually known for his involvement in the ambient-pop fourpiece The XX, Jamie xx has definitely gained enough traction as a producer to build his own fanbase. Much like The XX, Jamie keeps his sound very minimalist, which makes it easy to hear the steel pan's light bass support echoing throughout the song. The steel pan's range of sound obviously comes in handy for producers like Jamie, who will often need to produce a softer, soothing sound not normally expected of percussion instruments.

The Evolution of Steel Pan Music

Pan music has evolved along with the instrument.  Below is an interview with Joe Perea about this evolution.  He is part of the music staff at North Lake College in Irving, TX, and he is the instructor of the their steel band.



Here is the transcript of the interview:

Michael S.: I’m sitting here with Joe Perea.  He is part of the music faculty at North Lake College, and he is also the instructor for the steel band that they have here.  And I’m going to ask him some questions about the music influence on the steel pan.

So, Joe, where were some of the early influences on the steel pan music?

Joe P: Early steel pan music has its roots is the African diaspora of Trinidad, the descendants of the former slaves.  The music that we find in this has its roots in African drumming.  First with African drumming traditions, one of the things that happens during the colonial times is that the British government puts an end to the use of skin drums out of the fear that they could communicate coded messages.  For carnival time, they would turn to other objects to produce the same sort of rhythmic ideas, and one of the things that developed around the late 1800s was something called tamboo bamboo.  Taking a lot of different large bamboo poles of different diameters, different lengths, and drumming on those to produce a really interesting syncopated orchestra of sticks.  The complication, though, is that there are stick fighting rituals that take place all over the Caribbean, South America, and even Africa, and the bamboo poles became integrated into the stick fighting rituals.  And the government has to intervene to quell the violence.  So again, they go to found objects—bottles and spoons, pots and pans and whatnot.  And it is some street kids in the slums of Port of Spain, Trinidad that figure out that they could put different size dents on the bottom of caustic soda barrels or biscuit tins to be able to produce different pitches.  So with the early steel bands, the music that we hear still has its rhythmic roots in the drumming traditions—that’s the original source of some of those syncopations.  But then over time and the added variable of pitch, we start to have melodic ideas form until eventually we have full blown melodies and harmonies with today’s model.  So, early melodies that we would hear on the steel drums would be simple tunes, perhaps a recognizable melody like Brahms’ Lullaby or something like that, and as the drums have more notes added to them then the melodies can become more complex.  We’ll hear melodies of popular calypso music of the time, as well as, popular foreign music, foreign to Trinidad so perhaps tunes from the American cinema or tunes from Britain.  And as time goes on, calypso music will continue to develop.  It gets more influence, and I would dare say corruption from America influences due to recording production taking place outside of Trinidad, so there is going to be more influence of Mo-Town and soul.  Eventually, we get to the point today where we actually reversed that, and we hear a lot of American pop, r&b, and hip hop that had influence of Trinidadian producers.

MS: In the time I’ve played steel pan with you, I’ve learned that in Trinidad a lot people don’t read music, they learn by rote, which means that one person learns the music and then they teach it to the next person, who teaches the next and on.

JP: Correct.

MS: Is there any growth in Trinidad for players to start reading music?

JP: There’s been a call for that for some time.  There’s been the mindset among some that reading music is more legitimate than learning by rote.  I think, again, it has its roots in the European mindset.  But the music that they play without even knowing how to read or write music on paper is incredibly complex, very highly syncopated.  I’ve watched arrangers just think of these entire pieces, and one part at a time call out each individual part out of their head and then the whole things comes together.  It’s miraculous writing when you think about it.  There has been a push for developing music literacy within the school s and utilizing the steel pan instrument.  Part of the complication for years is that it’s taken time for the steel pan to gain legitimacy, even in Trinidad.  It’s been considered for a long time to be kind of a folk instrument, and instrument of the people, rather than a legitimate instrument like the piano or a trumpet.  But I think we’re now to the point where a majority of people in Trinidad see the legitimacy, see the potential with the instrument.  There’s an organization in Trinidad called the Music Literacy Trust that has been pushing collaboration with the local governing body called  Pan Trinibago, and they’ve worked out a deal where the Music Literacy Trust will oversee the transcription of these intricate Panorama arrangements.  That way this music will be preserved for future generations, so that they can go back and play some of these earlier arrangements rather that have them being lost in history.  At least at this point we have recordings, but we don’t have arrangements.  For the last 50 years, we have very, very few that have actually be notated on paper.  So, this will give students in the future the opportunity to be able to play arrangements written by people from earlier generations.  I kind of predict it’ll give them a window into compositional style and to arranging techniques, and I think what we will see once they go that direction in Trinidad, I think we’ll see a huge growth in people writing, composing, and arranging for steel band because I think the language will be there right in front of them.  With the visual component, I think we’ll see a growth in the creativity of composition.

MS: Well, thank you very much for all the information.

JP: My pleasures

Pan Building

In this post you will get to read about the process of building a pan.  I was able to interview Rob Davis from Mannette Musical Instruments, and he works closely with Ellie Mannette.  Below, he answers questions about the building process and how it give the steel pan its unique sound.

MS: Can you brief explanation on how the pans are built?

RD: Traditionally, one begins with a 55-gallon steel drum, though other sizes are used. Also, there are some manufacturers essentially making their own barrels out of flat stock and welding the top to the skirt.

    The top is sunk down into a bowl shape. Various methods are used, including hammering, repeatedly dropping a heavy metal ball onto the drum, and spin-sinking -- pressing the bowl into shape with a machine as the drum spins by underneath. The notes are then drawn on the drum, and hammering occurs in the spaces between the notes to tighten that metal. As this is done, the notes begin to rise up. Many manufacturers then hammer the borders of each note with a narrow punch or wedge to selectively harden that metal further, helping to isolate the notes from each other when the instrument is finally completed.

    It is at approximately this point that a drum is generally heated to several hundred degrees to help tighten and settle the metal into shape. The drum is then cleaned and the surface is made smooth by further careful hammer work. In general, the smoother and tighter the metal, the cleaner and brighter the final sound can be.

    The notes are then more fully popped up from below, often strengthened with selective heating, and then tuning begins. The exact shape and tension must be correct to allow a note to vibrate while not interfering with other nearby notes. Also, multiple partials are carefully tuned on a modern steel drum note -- anywhere from two to as many as five, or even six. The overtones will generally be made to correspond with overtones in the natural harmonic series, giving the notes more sensitivity at low volumes, power at high volumes, and resonance in general.

    A protective finish is then usually applied, such as paint or electroplating. Any resulting disturbances to the tuning are corrected, any necessary provisions for the hanging or standing of the instrument are attached, and then the instrument is complete.

MS: What tools are using in the building and tuning process?

RD: Hammers of various weights and styles, ranging from 4 or 8 ounces up to a few pounds (most of them metal, but a few with plastic or rubber faces), various wedges and prying devices to shape the metal in ways difficult or impossible to achieve with hammers alone, templates and rulers for laying out the arrangement and positions of notes, an electronic tuning device to aid the ear in precise alignment of the partials, and various mallets and tapping implements during tuning.

MS: What is it that gives the pan its unique sound?

RD: Each note is a separate vibrating membrane, much like that on a snare drum or tom-tom. Essentially, a steel drum is a collection of several metallic drum heads on a single instrument. Their metallic nature, as well as the careful tuning of multiple partials within each note, produce a unique sound.

MS: How does the shape of the affect this sound?

RD: The bowl in general must be shaped and prepared in a way that is known to inhibit any undesirable interactions between notes. It also must not produce tones of its own that might interfere with the notes themselves.

    The notes must also be shaped in a way that helps them to be sensitive and pure, yet capable of power if called upon. If they are too flat, they may lack power. If they are too high, they may lack sensitivity. The correct shape is also generally not quite symmetrical. Subtle nuances of shape and tension help create a note that functions well at all dynamic levels.

MS: How long does it usually take to get the pan ready to tune? How long to tune?

RD: An instrument can generally be readied for tuning in approximately three days, and if very well made, can be tuned in about two. The highest possible quality can take substantially longer however, as the surface is scrutinized for subtle imperfections, more partials are aligned during tuning, and the character of each note is more carefully evaluated for consistency with the rest of the instrument.

Music for Steel Pan

When most people think of music on the steel pan, they tend to think of Reggae.  In reality, that style of music is seldomly played compared to other genres—especially calypso and soca.  The steel pan, like most other acoustic instruments, can be adapted to play most genres of music.  The most commonly played genres range from calypso, soca, classical, rearrangements of popular songs from the radio, and songs called “own tunes.”

You’ll get to read about these genres and hear samples of them.  (Note: all the music will be links as I do not own the rights to any of them)

Calypso

Calypso is Trinidad’s folk music.  It dates back to the early 19^th century but only gained wide popularity in the 1950s.  Calypso uses very melodic and rhythmic vocals, and the lyrics will follow the form of a ballad—4 line choruses followed by 8 line verses.

Lord Kitchener – “Sugar Bum Bum” & on steel pan

Harry Belafonte – “Jump in the Line (Shake Senora)” & on steel pan

Soca

Soca is short for soul of calypso.  This is a modernized style of calypso that is infused with other genres like soul, funk, and r&b.  This is Trinidad’s equivalent of American pop music.

Alphonsus “Arrow” Cassel – “(Feelin’) Hot Hot Hot” & on steel pan

David Rudder – “De Long Time Band”

“Own tunes”

The term “own tunes” came about after Ray Holman composed a tune specifically for the Panorama contest that hadn’t been heard before.   More composers have creating these “own tunes,” and many of them have won the competitions.

Ken “Professor” Philmore – “Pan by Storm”

Ray Holman – “Pan Woman”

Other Genres

Numerous songs from various genres—including pop, r&b, jazz, rock, classical, and songs from tv, movies, and video games—have been rearranged for the steel pan.

Disney’s “Under the Sea”

Nintendo’s “Super Mario Bros.” theme song

Gary Gibson – “Uncommon Denominator”

Gary Gibson - "Minute Waltz" (originally written by Chopin)

Daft Punk ft. Pharrell Williams – “Get Lucky”

Pharrell Williams – “Happy”

Black Eye Peas – “Dynamite”

Bibliography:

Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica (n.d.). Calypso. retrieved from

     http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/90381/calypso

Cazaubon, M.(n.d.). What is Soca Music.  retrieved from

     http://www.streetdirectory.com/travel_guide/13132/entertainment/what_is_soca_music.html

Some People of Interest

In the last post, you read a brief description about the culture that created the steel pan.  This time you'll hear about three people that helped innovate, improve, and revolutionize the pan and its music.

Ellie Mannette (1926- )

Ellie Mannette is one of the biggest names in the steel pan community, and many consider him the “father of the modern steel pan.”  He contributed a great number of improvements to the instrument that are still used today.

In 1946 Ellie was actually the first person to “sink” the oil drum to give it a concave shape.  This very idea opened many doors for other builders and tuners to do some much more with the metal than they ever thought.  He is also credited with invented he designs for many pans including the double seconds, double guitars, triple cellos, and tenor bass.

In 1963, he came to the US to help develop the US Navy Steel Band program, and in the early 90s, he became artist-in-resident at West Virginia University.  Here, he created Mannette Steel Drums Ltd., which not only manufactures pans but trains tuners and builders.  Even at the age of 88, he is still working at WVU tuning and training.

Ray Holman (1944- )

All the music played for the Panorama competition came from songs from the radio—either a song a steel band had previously recorded or from a popular calypso song.  That is until 1971 when Ray Holman composed a song for the Panorama competition that had never been heard before.

While this feat sounds like something to be praised at the time, it actually created an outcry from many people and some even threatened with violence if his song won the competition.  For many outside of his band, they saw it as his ego being too big for wanting to put his own music in Panorama.  For those in his band, they were unsure if this would benefit them. All the other bands were performing songs that were already known and had a better chance of getting higher scores because of the judges’ familiarity with the songs.

Despite all this, Ray went boldly with his decision for his band Starlift to play his song “Pan on the Move.”  He felt Panorama should be a forum for everything steel pan, including introducing new music.  Even with all the uncertainty and unfamiliarity with the song, they ended up winning 3^rd place that year.

Ray has arranged and composed many songs that have lead different bands to win various competitions around the world.  Thanks to his contribution to the pan’s music, original songs—now know as "own songs"— are becoming more commonplace.

Aldwyn “Lord Kitchener” Roberts – (1922-2000)

While Kitchener has no direct connections with the steel pan or steel bands, he had strong ties and allegiances to them and was pivotal to the steel band movement.  He was a very highly regarded calypso artist in Trinidad, and his compositions had the most influence over the music of the steel pan in the early years.  Thanks to his compositions of “pan calypsos”—music he wrote in mind for steel bands to rearrange for the instrument—the steel pan was seen as more than the instrument of vagabonds.

Bibliography:
Blake, F.I.R. (1995). The Trinidad and Tobago Steel Pan. Molins de Rei, Spain: Gràfiques 85.

Rogers, L. (n.d.). Elliot "Ellie" Mannette.  Retrieved from

                http://www.pas.org/experience/halloffame/MannetteElliot.aspx

Sten, L. (n.d.). Ray Holman:Panman on the Move.  Retrieved from

                http://caribbean-beat.com/issue-64/panman-move#axzz3D37QQ8vy

Lord Kitchener.  Retrieved from
             http://www.trinisoca.com/calypsonians/Kitchener.html
image of Aldwyn “Lord Kitchener” Roberts retrieved from

                  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Kitchener_(calypsonian)

Brief history of the steel pan

To understand the history of the steel pan, you have to go back to 1700s when African slaves were brought to the islands of Trinidad.  Many of the people from Africa used animal hide drums for different occasions—religious rituals, celebration, communication, and entertainment.

After slavery was abolished in 1838, the government banned drumming on animal hide drums in 1883 for many reasons including the fear of a rebellion started from communication over drumming and to distance the African people from their religious background so that they could convert them to Christianity.  But the official reason stated to the public was that they outlawed it to prevent any public disturbances.

This didn’t keep the people away from playing music.  They turned to different size of bamboo shoots, they called tamboo bamboo—tamboo is from the French word tambour which means drum.  They used the hollowed out bamboo reeds of varying sizes and struck them on the ground to get different notes, and they used metal objects for their percussion.   Some of the tamboo bamboo bands started to gain some notoriety, but then issues arose where some of the bands became very territorial over the area where they played.  Their actions were similar to gang rivalries and many times the bands got into quarrels in the streets.  They used the bamboo as weapons, which created some very violent and deadly fights.  The government was forced to outlaw these around 1937.

Nothing would deter this culture from playing drums.  They went to only using whatever metal objects they could find—trash cans, oil cans, and parts.  Around the 1920s, they realized that when the metal was bent in certain ways, it created different notes.  After the tamboo bamboo was banned, people began a frenzy of experiments to try and beat out other builders for the best instrument.  Over the next couple decades, some of the biggest improvements were the use of the 50 gallon steel shipping barrels and bend the metal into a convex shape.

It wasn’t until around the late 1940s that the design of most of the steel pans we know today was formed—though improvements are still being made today.  Soon, history started to repeat itself.  Some of the steel bands got into rivalries with each other, starting fights in the streets and using their instruments as weapons.  The government stepped in again, but instead of outlawing the pans, they found an opportunity in the 1951 Festival of Britain.  They thought the steel band would be a great representative for the island.  They created a band—Trinidad All Star Percussion Orchestra (TASPO)—from some of the best players and tuners from each bands.  This band eventually went on to tour worldwide.

In 1963 the Panorama competitions were create to continue to change the rivalries from violence into competitions on a public stage.  Thanks to this competition, many of people involved with the pan were motivated to push the instrument and music further as an art form.  Panorama is still going on today, hosting several bands of varying size from 35 players all the way to bands of 150 players.

Bibliography:

Gaye (n.d.). Steel Pan (Steel Drums) Information, Tips and Advice. Retrieved from

                http://www.steelpan-steeldrums-information.com/

Blake, F.I.R. (1995). The Trinidad and Tobago Steel Pan. Molins de Rei, Spain: Gràfiques 85.

What is a steel pan?

Due to a lack of exposure, many people think that the steel pan is only 1 drum.  This isn't true.  There are many different pans that make up a steel band.  I've created this infographic to give everyone some more knowledge about the different pans.

Hopefully this infographic gave you insight about the different pans in a steel band.

Pan layout images retrieved from:

Blake, F.I.R. (1995). The Trinidad and Tobago Steel Pan. Molins de Rei, Spain: Gràfiques 85.

Welcome

The Caribbean steel pan is an intriguing instrument and the only acoustic instrument invented in the 20^th century, but there are still thousands of people that don’t know much about it or even know it exists.  The steel pan is more commonly known as the steel drum in the US.

The steel pan is an instrument that has been created out of a 50 gallon steel shipping barrel.  They are hammered down to specific shapes to get the desired note ranges for the different types of pans.  To this day, each pan is made by hand and can take hundreds of hours to complete a single pan.

Not a lot of information about the steel pan can be found on the Internet apart from people trying to sell pans or advertise a steel band.  Even though it was invented less than 100 years ago and came from a small island in the Caribbean, it has a rich history, and it’s a shame that more people don’t know about it. For anyone who is interested about the steel pan, this blog will give more information about: 

• What is a steel pan/steel band
• How they are made and maintained
• The history of the pan
• People that have influence the steel pan and its music

My name is Michael S.  As a kid, I was fascinated with the steel pan after the first time I saw it.  I have been playing percussion since I was 11 years old and always wanted to try to find a way to find and learn how to the steel pan.  I got lucky in 2003 when I was at Richland College when the music director there started a steel band program — I couldn’t join fast enough.  From that program, I came to learn some of the pan’s history and how they are made.  I still play today and am in the steel band at North Lake College.

I look forward to this experience, as it will be my first time writing a blog.  I look forward to teaching you more about this fascinating instrument as well as learning some new information myself in the process.  I hope that you enjoy.