The steel­pan is be­ing pro­mot­ed not on­ly as Trinidad and To­ba­go’s na­tion­al mu­si­cal in­stru­ment, but as a ve­hi­cle for youth de­vel­op­ment and growth in the cul­tur­al in­dus­try.

As the coun­try marked World Steel­pan Day yes­ter­day, the Min­istry of Cul­ture and Com­mu­ni­ty De­vel­op­ment said young pan­nists could be­come the next gen­er­a­tion of com­posers, arrangers, ed­u­ca­tors, man­u­fac­tur­ers and cul­tur­al rep­re­sen­ta­tives.

Cul­ture Min­is­ter Michelle Ben­jamin said in­volve­ment in steel­pan can help young peo­ple de­vel­op dis­ci­pline, pro­duc­tiv­i­ty and tol­er­ance while build­ing con­fi­dence, cre­ativ­i­ty and an ap­pre­ci­a­tion for the coun­try’s cul­tur­al her­itage.

The Gov­ern­ment, through the min­istry and oth­er agen­cies, in­tends to sup­port the steel­pan fra­ter­ni­ty while pro­mot­ing the in­stru­ment and its as­so­ci­at­ed in­dus­try to­wards sus­tain­able growth.

The min­istry al­so cred­it­ed gen­er­a­tions of pan­nists, arrangers, builders and oth­er prac­ti­tion­ers with de­vel­op­ing the in­stru­ment and tak­ing its sound to in­ter­na­tion­al au­di­ences.

Steel­pan was de­vel­oped in Trinidad and To­ba­go from dis­card­ed met­al and has grown in­to an in­stru­ment used and stud­ied around the world.

Act­ing Pres­i­dent: Every child should ex­pe­ri­ence pan

Act­ing Pres­i­dent Wade Mark is call­ing for every child in Trinidad and To­ba­go to have the op­por­tu­ni­ty to ex­pe­ri­ence the steel­pan and learn about the strug­gle, sac­ri­fice and in­no­va­tion be­hind the de­vel­op­ment of the na­tion­al in­stru­ment.

Mark said the steel­pan was “far more than a mu­si­cal in­no­va­tion,” de­scrib­ing it as a pow­er­ful ex­pres­sion of na­tion­al iden­ti­ty.

Speak­ing as the coun­try marked World Steel­pan Day yes­ter­day, he chal­lenged the steel­pan fra­ter­ni­ty to deep­en its in­volve­ment in schools, say­ing the in­stru­ment’s fu­ture de­pend­ed on en­sur­ing young peo­ple un­der­stood and be­came in­volved in its con­tin­ued de­vel­op­ment.

“The fu­ture of the steel­pan be­longs to all of us,” Mark said.

He said the fu­ture of the in­stru­ment ex­tend­ed be­yond per­for­mance in­to com­po­si­tion, man­u­fac­tur­ing, tech­nol­o­gy, ed­u­ca­tion and en­tre­pre­neur­ship.

Mark con­grat­u­lat­ed Pan Trin­ba­go pres­i­dent Bev­er­ley Ram­sey-Moore and her ex­ec­u­tive for their lead­er­ship of the steel­pan move­ment, par­tic­u­lar­ly their ef­forts to in­volve young peo­ple in shap­ing its fu­ture.

He al­so paid trib­ute to pi­o­neers in­clud­ing Win­ston “Spree” Si­mon, El­lie Man­nette, An­tho­ny Williams, Bertie Mar­shall, Rudolph Charles, Neville Jules, Ster­ling Be­tan­court, George “Son­ny” God­dard, Pat Bish­op, Mer­le Al­bi­no-de Cote, Clive Bradley, Robert Greenidge, Ken “Pro­fes­sor” Philmore and Dr Jit Sama­roo.

He recog­nised liv­ing prac­ti­tion­ers in­clud­ing Len “Boogsie” Sharpe, Ray Hol­man, Am­rit Sama­roo, Dane Gul­ston and Liam Teague.

Mark said the in­stru­ment’s con­tin­ued de­vel­op­ment de­pend­ed on the work of steel­bands, pan­nists, tuners, arrangers, ed­u­ca­tors and sup­port­ers at home and through­out the di­as­po­ra.

PM: Steel­pan is a sym­bol of T&T’s cre­ativ­i­ty

Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar al­so marked World Steel­pan Day, de­scrib­ing the in­stru­ment as a sym­bol of the coun­try’s cre­ativ­i­ty, re­silience and in­no­va­tion.

She said the steel­pan’s sound con­tin­ues to unite and in­spire peo­ple while show­cas­ing Trinidad and To­ba­go on in­ter­na­tion­al stages.

Per­sad-Bisses­sar al­so re­ferred to Unit­ed States Deputy Sec­re­tary of State Christo­pher Lan­dau’s re­cent op­por­tu­ni­ty to ex­pe­ri­ence the steel­pan dur­ing his vis­it to Trinidad and To­ba­go.