Hi, everyone. I am Trinidad.
And I’m Tobago. We are two islands that make one country called the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.
You can find us in the southern part of the Caribbean near Venexuela. We are only a little bit larger than Chiba Prefecture. Our national language is English, and the population is about 1.3 million. Oh, have you heard about our very big festival held every year in our capital, Port of Spain?
It's a festival for our famous musical instrument, the steel pan. A steel pan is made from a big steel can. Usually, a drum has a flap top, right? But a steel pan doesn't have a flat top. It looks like a bowl. You hit different places in the bowl, and it makes different sounds. Isn't it cool? People often tell us that a steel pan has a very sweet and beautiful sound.
Steel pans also have an interesting history. In the fifteenth century, Christopher Columbus reached Trinidad, and Spain took control of this island for about 300 years. After that, many countries ruled this area. In the eighteenth century, they brought African people as slaves to this island. The slaves used to play their African drums to wash away their pain and sadness. They finally became free in 1834. They continued to play their drums. But some people thought they were too noisy. So one day, they were ordered not to play their drums anymore.
But they used music and rhythm to express their culture. They needed an instrument. So they made a new instrument from bamboo that grow grew this island. They called it tamboo-bamboo. The bamboo was cut into different sizes to make different sounds.
But it became against the law, too.
You know the phrase, You can't live without music, right? Music cleans away our negative feelings and brightens up our positive feelings. Music is like food for our souls.
The people couldn’t play their drums or their new instruments. So they started hitting things like biscut cans to make music. Then, in 1039, a boy called Winston Simmon made a big discovery. He was fixing old steel cans, and he found that hitting different damaged places made different sounds. The original steel pan was born through luck. Later, many people made inprovements, and the steel pan got better and better.
When you hear more than 100 steel pans played together, you hear waves of sounds. It may sound like heaven getting larger and larger. The steel pan was made because the people of Trinidad and Tobago needed to express themselves. It comes from our people’s soul.
There's no life without music. People living here today enjoy playing the steel pans. Come and listen to us someday.