Steel Drums
In the late 1700s, French settlers and their slaves emigrated to Trinidad. With their arrival came the tradition of carnival—a celebration that takes place before the Catholic Lent season. However, the slaves were not allowed to join in on the upper-class carnival tradition and, therefore, had to create their own carnival festivities. Their festivities included masqueraders, bands of Kalinda stick fighters, chantwell singers, and drum bands. After the Canboulay Riots, the stick fighters and percussive bands were banned in Trinidad. Soon after, they were replaced by bamboo sticks which were to be beaten against one another. The bamboo sticks were soon banned due to the fights and violence surrounding them. Later came about Tamboo-Bamboo bands. These were bands of sticks that were tuned to different pitches that were struck against the ground. The steel drums originated in Trinidad during the 1940s. The steel drums descended from and replaced the Tamboo-Bamboo instruments. Originally,...