Aubrey Bryan made
this steel pan
in 1994.

Steel pan music
originated in the Caribbean
but can now be heard
all over the world.

Aubrey describes
steel pan music in London:

"I had a couple of calypso records
which I used to play
every afternoon when I came in
from work,
just keeping in touch with home.
But I was missing my pan,
as pan was my thing.
In London,
Ladbroke Grove especially,
the guys had pans,
but out this way in Croydon,
which people call the sticks,
pans were unheard of."

"One night I heard some guys
playing pan
and I thought,
this is nice!
And then I gradually started
to play pan again,
and since then I've never looked back."

"I think people in the authorities
felt that
having a growing number
of black children in the schools,
it was a good idea
to have steel bands in schools.
But for me the idea
was to develop the music
for the host nation
in order that they could appreciate
that aspect of Caribbean culture.
The white kids also wanted to play
steel band -
so it wasn't a colour thing,
music is music,
it transcends all races."

Aubrey began playing steel pans
as a teenager in Guyana.

Steel pans were developed
in the mid-20th century
in Trinidad.
They were made by adapting
paint pots, dustbins and oil drums.

Aubrey came to Croydon in 1964
and began to make his own steel pans.
Each one takes 40 to 50 hours
and requires specialist
metalworking skills.
Aubrey also teaches pan playing
in local schools.

This sound clip was created during the
I Am Here project. The group of 14-24
year olds selected objects close to their
heart that also said something about identity.

I Am Here is part of Stories of the World,
one of the major projects at the heart of the
London 2012 Cultural Olympiad.

"Hi I'm Hannah. I'm 17 and I'm here at Croydon
Museum today and I've picked an object that
I would like to talk about and that object is the
steel pan.

I was first attracted to the steel pan because it
reminded me of how music is such a big part of
people's identity, and living here in Croydon
where there's so many different cultures and it's
so diverse and I think it is inevitable that music
is going to play a big part in everyday life and

there will be lots of different music influenced
from all over the world.

Steel pan music originated from the Caribbean
and that's where my family's from. So originally
I was quite drawn to it.

Steel pan music is often played at carnivals
and again I can relate to this because I have
been to a few carnivals with my family and
I just like the idea of how you know, this
little bit of metal can bring lots of people
together and it just reminds of good
times of fun, just celebrating, I think music is
a good way to bring people together.

I think to fully appreciate it you really need
to hear steel pan music live and be in the middle
of a carnival, to appreciate all the sounds,
you can look at it but I think it's better to be

there and to hear it and then you can really
understand what steel pan music is about."