At his Detroit studio, Caribbean Mardi Gras Productions, Ralph Taylor has cleared away the giant Carnival costumes he designs and dusted off a dozen sets of steel drums he’d had in storage for years.

The steel drum, also called the steel pan or just pan, is surely one of the most unusual and versatile musical instruments in the world. The clangy sound of a steel band performing during carnival in ...

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 heart of Port of Spain, capital of the island ...

MIDLAND, MI — With more than 40 years of experience and a 700-song repertoire, the members of CEYX were prepared to rock Midland's Fourth of July celebration at Chippewassee Park, Wednesday night. The ...

If countries had national instruments, then the steelpan would be Trinidad's. In an island nation of just 1.5 million people, there are about 70 steel bands registered to compete in the annual ...

Many of the students in Rick Henson’s steel drums beginners class have already been playing for a year or more. Their affinity for the light and happy percussion persuasion was eventually part of the ...

Despers USA practices on a big parking lot off Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, N.Y. Band members start wandering in around 6 or 7 p.m. and slowly take their places behind racks of steel drums. Like a ...

Close your eyes before the rows of deep, rounded steel drums at the Summit K-12 school, and the melodic rhythms could transport you to foreign lands. For a group of students in the North Seattle ...

EDMONDS — A new nonprofit group is raising money in hopes of starting several steel-drum bands for children and adults here. Steel Magic Northwest earlier this month kicked off a campaign to raise $60 ...

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 ...