Last week I sat in the botanical gardens enjoying the cool breeze and shade from the hot afternoon sun. I was relaxed and peaceful and amidst the bird songs, another beautiful sound wafted through the air to my receptive ears - the music of a steel pan band practice. The lilting music which is so quintessentially Caribbean, instantly bought a smile to my face.

The Steel Pan is a testament to innovation in the Caribbean. Although there are a few versions of its history, the consensus report that the steel pan emerged in Trinidad in the late 1930’s as a response to the banning of African drums by the ruling British government at the time. The drums were originally made from used oil drums but are now professionally made from new steel and tuned into instruments that have a range of varying tones to create a full family of 13 pans.