Now the mu­sic has be­come a source of com­mu­ni­ty pride, na­tion­al iden­ti­ty, and eco­nom­ic de­vel­op­ment."We made Ham­mer on Steel to tell the world about this won­der­ful mu­sic, and the self-taught mu­si­cians who cre­at­ed it from the be­gin­ning-many of whom are now el­der­ly and won't be with us much longer," ex­plained Lar­ry Snider, The Uni­ver­si­ty of Akron mu­sic pro­fes­sor who found­ed the UA Steel Drum Band in 1980. "We al­so want­ed to tell the un­like­ly sto­ry of how the Caribbean sounds of the steel drums have al­so found a home in less-than-trop­i­cal North­east Ohio," said Snider.