BIRTH and INFANCY of the STEELBAND
1991 George Goddard Forty Years in the Steelbands: 1939 - 1979

Dating the Origins from Newspaper Reports

   The reader would have observed that one of the important points of dispute in the foregoing versions and accounts is the dating of the first steelband. To resolve this question the best we can do is go to newspaper reports. Newspaper reports do not support the claim that there was any steelband activity before the Carnival of 1940. The first report of such activity was in a story appearing in the Trinidad Guardian of Tuesday, February 6, 1940, entitled "Carnival Time in Trinidad": "...A large number of bands patronised the Besson Street Competition yesterday. Among the bands which took part in the competition were "Grow more food", Alexander's Ragtime Band..."⁽¹⁾

   It is important to note that although Besson Street is in the area of John John, East Port of Spain, home district of "Spree" Simon who is regarded by many as the founder of the steelband, no mention is made of any steelband from that district appearing at Besson Street in 1940. However, in an account of the 1937 Carnival published in the Port of Spain Gazette of Tuesday February 9, 1937, mention was made of tin pans being on the scene. This Port of Spain Gazette story, captioned "Trinidad spends a Brighter Carnival" stated:

  At the break of day yesterday, King Carnival for 1937 was ushered in by thousands of disguises termed "Old Masks" who paraded the streets of the city... by jumping, prancing and yelling to their hearts' content - singing or at least shouting refrains... that were almost meaningless, to the accompaniment of noises by tin pans etc...⁽²⁾

   The Trinidad Guardian of the same date had a front page story "City Goes Gay for Carnival":

   Every square, every road, every street throbbed to the strange rhythm of calypsos. Bands of people dressed to represent nobody in particular, and extracting remarkable music from pieces of bamboo and bottles with their best silver spoons shuffled through the streets... old pots, old pans, old umbrellas, old coats and fragments of old garments were all pressed into service: Bamboo bands from Coffee Street, the Wharf and Cipero Street vied with one another and sent up a deafening din...⁽³⁾

   For the Carnivals of 1935 to 1940 no mention is made in the print media, as far as I was able to ascertain, about any music supplied on Carnival days other than music supplied by string bands, bamboo and spoon bands and banjos. However, as noted above, in 1937 both daily newspapers did mention that old pots, old pans and tin pans were used to beat out crude rhythms.

   The writer would like to stress that although the newspaper devoted considerable space to reporting on Carnival in 1935 and 1936, there is no mention of the appearance of any steelband. Let us look at some of these reports of 1935 and 1936. In the front page story of the Trinidad Guardian of Tuesday, March 5, 1935 under the caption, "King Carnival Reigns in Trinidad", the following is reported:

   King Carnival had arrived with the throbbing of drums, the tooting of saxophones, the shrieking of whistles and the singing of calypsos, all blending into one glorious cacophony of sound... At every street corner groups of players... jigged happily to the music provided by the strangest instruments... Nutmeg graters, bottles, spoons and other unorthodox musical instruments were pressed into service...⁽⁴⁾

   Then in the Trinidad Guardian of the same date, in another story entitled "Riot of Colours at Marine Square", this report is given:

...There was a sea of colour moving in wavelike formation to the rhythmic and melodious tunes of the accompaniments.

   Bands appeared outside the enclosure keeping time to the staccato sounds of the light bamboo sticks and the dull booming sound of the bass bamboos with the accompanying bottle and spoon beat.⁽⁵⁾

   The Port of Spain Gazette of the same date, Tuesday March 5, in a story titled, "The 1935 Carnival, Mad Monarch Reigns Supreme", reported as follows:

   "Dingo-lay-oh, tie me donkey down town" repeated in rhythmic sequence to a tune made popular and kept in existence for repetition year after year... resounded through the streets and by-paths from early morn yesterday... Punctually at 6 a.m. bottles and spoons, shack shacks and bamboos, blended together to form the musical accompaniment for what is known as the "old mas parade" and in the twinkling of an eye, the city and suburbs were en fete...⁽⁶⁾

   We go to the next year, 1936. On February 26, 1936, the Trinidad Guardian in a story under the headline, "Man In The Street Enjoys Second Day Of Carnival: Last Lap We Go Beat up the Police", stated: "...At about 8 o'clock sounds of "Miriam le'go me man" and "Dey want to come kill me", were heard from all directions, while people jumped to the music of bamboo bands."⁽⁷⁾

   "Trinidad Carnival parade" was the headline of a front page story in the Trinidad Guardian of Wednesday March 2, 1938, which read:

...The parade was followed by crowds of undisguised masqueraders who kept pace with "masks" in the Carnival contortion to the Carnival tunes played by musical bands... Every street, every square, every lane in the City throbbed to the weird rhythm of creole music and marching bands...⁽⁸⁾

   The Port of Spain Gazette too, in another story "The Carnival at St James", published on the same date, March 2, 1938, reported:

   In St James as in the city, Carnival was celebrated with the usual mirth and hilarity... On Monday morning the first day, there was the usual "Jour Ouvert" when bands crowded the streets singing the latest calypsos, to the accompaniment of "bamboo tamboo" orchestras...⁽⁹⁾

   On Wednesday February 22, 1939, the Trinidad Guardian in a front page story, "Carnival Ends with Last Lap", stated:

   King Carnival ended his two-day reign at midnight as thousands of disguised revellers shouted themselves hoarse singing the year's "leggoes" as they jogged along city streets to the rhythms of music - orchestras, banjos and bottles and spoon...⁽¹⁰⁾

   The following day, Thursday February 23, 1939, the Port of Spain Gazette in a story under the headline, "Carnival at Chaguanas" stated:

   The hectic revelry associated with the reign of King Carnival was most pronounced this year at Chaguanas as people of all walks of life joined in the two day glamorous reign of the sovereign... On Monday morning masqueraders from surrounding districts of Longdenville, Todd's Road, Enterprise, Freeport... crowded into Chaguanas led by string bands, bottles and spoons, bamboos or tambourines all playing the 1939 calypso "Mathilda".⁽¹¹⁾

"We will conquer Germany" is what the Port of Spain Gazette of Tuesday, February 6, 1940 indicated in its story, "King Carnival Reigns - Jour Ouvert in San Fernando":

   San Fernando stepped out yesterday morning long before the scheduled arrival of King Carnival... And when the clock struck six the folks went wild in a spell of hectic merriment... jumping and prancing to the tunes of jazz bands, bamboo bands and singing appropriate tunes such as "We will conquer Germany"...⁽¹²⁾

   From this report in the Port of Spain Gazette of February 6, 1940, it would appear that although the Trinidad Guardian of the said date indicated that a band, identified as Alexander's Ragtime Band, made an appearance at the Port of Spain Carnival competition on Carnival Monday, February 5, 1940, jazz bands, bottle and spoon, bamboo bands and string bands were still in operation not only in San Fernando, but in Port of Spain as well. The following story, "Final Day of Carnival" in the Port of Spain Gazette of Wednesday February 7, 1940, confirms this point:

...more bands turned out yesterday the final day of King Carnival and larger crowds filled the streets of the city as masqueraders of all classes sang and danced to the strains of musical instruments, empty cans, bottle and spoon and other noise making articles, as they went to Marine Square.⁽¹³⁾

   For the Carnival of 1941 (after which the annual celebrations were suspended because of World War II) quite a few steelbands came on the scene. However, these steelbands were referred to by the press (not the people) as "biscuit drums and dustbins orchestras", as stated in a story captioned "King Carnival Reigns" in the Port of Spain Gazette of Tuesday February 25, 1941:

...The music in the majority of cases was furnished by the "biscuit drums and dustbins" orchestras; the performances on which instruments... exhibited a degree of skill and brought forth the rhythm which particularly suited the maskers...⁽¹⁴⁾

   The following day, Wednesday February 26, the Port of Spain Gazette again reported on the Carnival festivities under the headline, "King Carnival Ends his Reign": "the streets were filled with the swirling, dancing bands, led by jazz orchestras, or the more pulsating syncopated 'drum and bins' music..."⁽¹⁵⁾

© 1991 Mona Goddard

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