Steel Pan Inventor: WINSTON "SPREE" SIMON" Trinidad & Tobago 1927-1976

A CHRONICLE OF THE LIFE, KEY ACHIEVEMENTS AND SIGNIFICANCE OF WINSTON "SPREE" SIMON, THE STEEL PAN INVENTOR OF THE 20TH CENTURY LATEST MUSICAL INSTRUMENT WHICH ORIGINATED IN THE CARIBBEAN ISLAND OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO IN JOHN JOHN, PORT OF SPAIN, THE CAPITAL CITY.

HIS INVENTION BEGAN IN 1939 WHEN "SPREE" WAS 12 YEARS OLD AND HAD DISCOVERED THE FIRST MUSICAL NOTE DURING AN EMANCIPATION DAY CELEBRATION IN HIS VILLAGE. THEREAFTER, HE TUNED THREE, FOUR, FIVE, SIX, EIGHT, NINE UP TO FOURTEEN NOTES ON STEEL PANS HE MADE FROM OIL DRUMS DURING WORLD WAR 2 UNTIL 1946. DURING THIS SEVEN-YEAR INNOVATIVE PERIOD, "SPREE" PLAYED RECOGNIZED NURSERY RHYMES, SPIRITUALS, CALYPSOES, HYMALS, ANTHEMS, AND CLASSICAL. HIS INVENTION WAS KNOWN AS THE CONVEX TENOR PAN.

AS A MUSICIAN, HE RENDERED A SOLO PERFORMANCE OF FIVE SONGS DURING THE MARCH 5, 1946, CARNIVAL BEFORE THE COLONIAL GOVERNOR AND HIS ENTOURAGE AND WHOSE ENRAPTURED RESPONSE WERE RECORDED IN THE PORT OF SPAIN GAZETTE NEWSPAPERS WHICH LED TO THE ACCEPTANCE AND PERMANENCE OF THE STEEL PAN AS PART OF THE CULTURE OF THE BRITISH RULE ISLANDS OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO.

THIS CHRONICLE OF THE LIFE AND WORKS OF WINSTON "SPREE" SIMON PROVIDES AMPLE EVIDENCE TO PROVE THAT "SPREE" IS THE FATHER OF PAN, "JOHN JOHN" IS THE BIRTHPLACE OF PAN, AND THAT "DESTINATION TOKYO" WAS THE STEEL BAND HE LED WHEN THE STEEL PAN WAS FIRST NOBLY ACKNOWLEDGED AS A MELODIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

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