Afropop: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange

Pan! Our Music Odyssey

Since the evolution of pan-a musical instrument crafted from oil drums as early as 1939 and perfected in the 1950s-steel bands have mushroomed in every corner of the planet. Each year, philharmonic orchestras of over 100 musicians come to Trinidad from all countries of the world to compete for the greatest Pan event: the Panaroma. Pan is the story of the men and women throughout the Caribbean and the world who staked all on their art and whose passion and daring has drawn them to the world championships. Their stories are interlaced with re-enactments of the rags-to-riches tale of the steel band movement, which was born in poverty and violence but climbed to the highest levels of social and artistic acceptance without losing its life-or-death urgency.