To my left, 129 more play just as furiously. In front of me, yet another steel-pan orchestra makes its own riot of sound as it competes with its rivals.

"We have—if you count just large steel bands—we have about 15." Pan's history began in the late 1930s, when American military bases in Trinidad needed oil and empty oil drums littered the streets.

Despite Trinidad’s musical fame, the campus here only began offering music courses in 1992. Now about 100 students study the musical arts, the majority of them emphasizing the steel pan.

During last month’s funeral service for Trinidad and Tobago-born steelpan musician Reynold Juan “Caldera” Caraballo at Brooklyn’s St. Francis of Assisi-St. Blaise Parish, lo… ...

Music was to become his life and livelihood. He was skilled at playing every type of pan, and in 1962, enjoyed a short stint playing with the National Steelband of Trinidad and Tobago. He also learned ...

But in 1963, when Kernahan was just 14 years old, his mother, like most parents at the time in Trinidad, strictly forbade his playing the pan. He wasn't even allowed to listen to pan music.

Facebook group Maraval Rd. was ebullient over Samaroo's musicianship and skill: The pan world lost one of the biggest icons today. Jit Samaroo is credited with pushing pan to the next level and has ...

Drummers perform during Carnival in Trinidad. Thundering. Clangoring. The air around me throbs and shatters with the sound of steel pans. I'm in Queen's Park Savannah, a big patch of green in the ...

Working-class youths invented the steel drum in the 1930s by banging dents in the tops of discarded oil drums to create notes. Today, steelpan is Trinidad's de facto national instrument.

Working-class youths invented the steel drum in the 1930s by banging dents in the tops of discarded oil drums to create notes. Today, steelpan is Trinidad's de facto national instrument.