Steelpan (steel drum)
Steelpan (tambor de acero)
- Date
- 1930s-1946 · confidence medium
- Place
- Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
- Credited to
- Ellie Mannette, Winston 'Spree' Simon, Neville Jules and Anthony Williams (Trinidadian musicians)
- Field
- Tools
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A tuned melodic instrument made from oil barrels hammered into bowls with pitch areas. It is regarded as the only acoustic instrument invented in the 20th century.
Authorship of the first tuned 'pan' is disputed between Winston Simon, Neville Jules and Ellie Mannette; the concave tuned shape is attributed to Mannette around 1946.
What it led to
- Pan orchestras in the Trinidad carnival
- Caribbean musical genres
- Modern tuned percussion instruments