Caribbean Beat — March/April 2019 (#156)

ow do you breathe life into metal? With a hammer.
H
When Roland Harragin was learning the
art of steelpan half a century ago, the process
was written nowhere. It was a matter of trial
and error, and the most intriguing musical instrument of the
twentieth century was developed along with the tools used to
lovingly coax music from steel. It was and is a perfect balance of
the scientific and the spiritual for the men who have made tens of
thousands of instruments without a blueprint. “When you come
to a hammer and say you are looking for a note, it has to be inside
of you for it to come out,” says Harragin.
The molecular structure of the steel, the degree of heat, and
the measurements of the notes on any of the nine pans, ranging
from tenor to bass, can now be learned in a structured way,
because of the cornerstones laid by tuners like Ellie Manette and
Anthony Williams, along with second-generation craftsmen like
Harragin. “Those before me got an inspiration” he says. “They
were scorned by society and stayed in the backwaters to create
this instrument.”
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