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Corby Business Academy gets its own sounds of Caribbean
Traditional tones of the Caribbean are set to ring out from a Corby school after it took delivery of a set of steel pans.
Corby Business Academy is thought to be the first school in the north of the county to form its own full steel band.
It is hoped the instruments will help inspire young people who are not otherwise involved in music to take part in musical activities.
After a year in the making, the set of 20 drums is now taking pride of place in the music department and staff and students have started making Calypso music.
The Caribbean instruments have been hand crafted by specialist Norman Stewart, who bought them to life using traditional methods from their former incarnation as oil drums.
Hundreds of hours' work involving a guitar tuner and a hammer went into making the 20-piece set.
Music director Clive Wears said the new instruments would be an asset to the school and hopefully encourage more students to get involved with making music.
He said: "To have a set of steel drums is quite unusual as to my knowledge there is only one other set of steel pans in the county, in Northampton.
"They have such a wonderful sound and when you hear them you are immediately transported to a hot Caribbean island.
"They are also an extremely accessible instrument."
Steel pans originated in Trinidad where drumming was used as a form of communication among the enslaved Africans.
They were outlawed by the British colonial government in 1883 but have since become a popular part of Mardi Gras celebrations globally.
Separate student and staff practice sessions are held weekly and the two bands will join together for the Music for a Summer Evening concert at the academy in Gretton Brook Road, Corby, on Wednesday, June 24, at 7.30pm.
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Sunday 27 May 2012
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