Discover

''Ellie Mannette', known as the "father of the modern steel drum instrument," is one of the world's premiere steel drum builders. He is the founder of Mannette Steel Drums, based in Morgantown, West Virginia.
Originally from Trinidad, Ellie gave guidance to the U.S. Navy Steel Band in the 1950s, and was encouraged by Murray Narell and others to come to the New York City area in 1967. As an educator and a musician he has made steel bands or 'pan' an accepted musical idiom at many U.S. colleges.
Tiffe, Janine. "The arrival of steel pan in the United States" in ''Percussive Notes, the journal of the Percussive Arts Society'' (45 n3 Jun 2007 p10-16)