Islands and oil drums: the history of steel pan
Did you know that 2026 marks 75 years since the first ever steel pan performance in the UK?
Discover how a ban on bamboo instruments gave birth to the sound of the steel pan, and how a landmark performance here at the Southbank Centre ultimately led to the creation of the Notting Hill Carnival.
On 27 July 1951 the Trinidad All-Steel Percussion Orchestra wowed crowds outside our Royal Festival Hall with a performance of Caribbean calypsos. Part of the Festival of Britain, the performance presented a sound so new to those listening that many refused to believe it could be coming from these eleven men and their collection of repurposed oil drums.
In this video Nakeira Westmaas tells the story of this remarkable instrument and its journey from the islands of Trinidad and Tobago to the streets of London. From the beginnings of the instrument – as a means to get around a ban on popular bamboo bands – to the collective effort of the people of Trinidad to send a band to London for the festival.
Westmaas also looks at the legacy of that landmark performance here on the South Bank, one that would ultimately, several years later, lead to what has become Europe’s largest street festival.
‘The band had deliberately not painted their drums, leaving them rusty for people to wonder what kind of music could possibly come from some old oil drums’
Steel impact: the story of the first ever steelpan performance in Britain
Read the fascinating story behind the first ever steelpan performance on these shores, 75 years ago this summer.
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