About the Festival

The World Steelband Music Festival was born out of the biennial Steelband Music Festival in Trinidad.  This biennial Event was started in 1952 as a category in the National Music Festival, however the increased number of participants and the high standard of music and panmanship displayed,  demanded that the show  be staged independently of the National Music Festival.   In 1962 the biennial Steelband Music Festival began as an independent entity. Staged as such the Festival gave the steelbandsmen an opportunity to display the versatility of the instrument which attracted tremendous international attention. This international interest led to the staging of the first World Steelband Music Festival in 1988, which saw participants from Venezuela, Guyana and Sweden.   The second edition was held in the year 2000, with a much wider participation from the U.S.A.,  England,  Sweden,  Finland,  France,  Finland, Switzerland,  Grenada and St. Lucia. In Music Festival competitions steelbands are required to play a Classical piece, Professor John Russell, an English musician, conductor and adjudicator, in high praise said – “ the most electrifying performance of a Classical piece of music can be heard from a Steelband”. In 2004 twelve steelbands (Orchestra category)  from Trinidad and Tobago competed to be selected to participate  in the Finals which was originally carded to be staged in the U.K. The Event attracted bands from Europe, U.K., U.S.A., Canada, British Virgin Islands, and the Caribbean.  Circumstances deemed that the Finals be held in New York, U.S.A. and the Event is now scheduled to take place on June 19th 2005 and will be staged at  The Paramount Theatre, Madison Square Gardens, Manhattan,  N.Y.  U.S.A..  The Finals of the Orchestra Category of the World Steelband Music Festival promises a world class Event, one of intense competition between bands and pannists displaying  remarkable talent, genius  and passion for this unique instrument  - the Steelpan! -  With Music that will  delight the audience.