Pan! The Steeldrum Odyssey The Pan! (Various Artists)

• 1 Street Calypso (New Single Version, 2016) 03:39
• 2 Boomtown 02:22
• 3 Illuminata 06:09
• 4 Ray's Dream 02:53
• 5 Pan on the beach (Interlude) 00:24
• 6 Calypso Blues 04:19
• 7 Tuning Andy (Edit Version) 01:31
• 8 The Way We Live Today 04:46
• 9 Dreadlocks (Original Single Version) 03:31
• 10 Tune It 00:28
• 11 More Love 08:57
• 12 Differentology 04:19
• 13 Abatina (Original Version) 04:11
• 14 Rum & Coca-Cola (Edit Version) 02:16
• 15 Steelband Music 04:13
• 16 Memories 04:54
• 17 Maturity (Steel Pan Instrumental Version) 02:16
• 18 Street Calypso (Single Version, 2015 ) 03:25
• Total Runtime 01:04:33

Info for Pan! The Steeldrum Odyssey

This beautiful collection, including a substantial leaflet illustrated with various photos, tells the saga of the steeldrum, the unique percussion instrument which was invented in the 1940s in Trinidad and Tobago, and which is known locally as the 'pan'.

As for the album, it comprises the soundtrack to the film as well as a few bonus tracks. The pan stars in multiple contexts, both modern and 'vintage'. It can be heard on instrumental tracks, solos and as part of various ensembles, but also combined with Jamie xx's electro music and of course alongside Calypso Rose, the queen of the calypso. The old favourite, Street Calypso, performed by the Lola, Gordon Cyrus, Junior Don & 105 combo, is at the crossing point between the instrument's past, present and future, or in other words its cultural history and its modernity.

In pictures and in music, Pan! The Steeldrum Odyssey teaches us how the pan has become a distinctive symbol for the culture of a whole country, before spreading and sending its 'lust for life' all around the world. This no doubt explains why there are now thousands of steelbands on every continent, from Europe to Japan to the United States.

What is Pan! The Steeldrum Odyssey? It is a multimedia project comprising a film, disc and a 60-page booklet that make us discover an unique music from Trinidad and Tobago but whose expansion today is global.

What is Pan? Invented in the 1940s in Trinidad and Tobago, the pan (derivate from saucepan in English) or steeldrum is a musical instrument originally crafted from any metal container. Used in its early beginning as a rhythmic instrument, it became melodic with the generalized use of the 55-gallon drum (200 liters) used in the oil industry, a major activity of the country. Through a painstaking hammering work on its surface, up to 32 discrete bubbles are created, each capable of producing a discrete note of the chromatic scale. This conceptual revolution was simultaneous with the growth of orchestras, called steel bands, increasingly expanded and capable of interpreting an infinite repertoire. A steel band now can count over a hundred 'panmen' and as easily interprets a calypso as a Brahms symphony. Starting as a marginal phenomenon, the pan gradually becomes one of the jewels of Trinidadian culture. Like most popular music, such as rock and roll, reggae and samba, pan started off as a means of expression of the poor, which eventually rose to instill a sense of pride in a whole nation and contributed to its unity, before communicating its 'joie de vivre' to the world.

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Booklet for Pan! The Steeldrum Odyssey