Dj Menace Music .Blogspot: Gasparillo tamboo bamboo specialist Musician/Band

Gasparillo tamboo bamboo specialist

Musician/Band

Tamboo Bamboo is a Caribbean percussion instrument created in the Caribbean, and is a notable precursor to the creation of the steelpan although it was the dominant instrument at carnival at the turn of the twentieth century

Although steel drums (steel pans) were invented in the Caribbean island of Trinidad and Tobago sometime around the Second World War, they had been evolving since the 1800's when the inhabitants were celebrating Carnival (a street parade). This festivity was brought to the island by the French.

After the slaves were freed in 1834, they joined in the festivities using their drums. However,the colonialists were nervous about the drumming which they thought could be used to pass secret messages that may have led to social unity and a possible revolution among the Blacks. The drumming activities were therefore banned.This did not stop the natives however! They replaced their drums with tuned bamboo sticks called Tamboo Bamboo.

The instruments of the tamboo bamboo bands were made of bamboo stems of different sizes weights, widths and lengths. Tamboo bamboo bands were purely rhythmic ensembles comprised of a sufficient ‘mix’ of sounds to achieve tonal balance.

The quality of the sound varied in accordance with the angle at which the bamboo stem made contact with the ground.

"The music struck up. It began with the booming sound of the Bass Bamboo which serves to regulate the time and after a few beats, a number of the bands which played the lighter reeds joined in. The cutting of the finer reeds in rhythmic percussion between the boom of the Bass Bamboo was really surprising

Tamboo bamboo played a very vital role in the ultimate development of the steel pan. Tamboo bamboo has been Trinidad and Tobago’s music of celebratiion for more that five decades, during which period extraordinary techniques and dexterity in playing various instruments were being developed. Tamboo bamboo music was played by the African population for stick-fights, folk dances such as bongo and Dame Lorraine, in wakes and revelries especially at Carnival. On many occasions on Carnival days, brass bands or string bands found themselves playing alongside a tamboo bamboo band. At first the musicians would complain about the unmelodic noise made by the tamboo bamboo bands. Not being able to do anything about it, however, many string bands and brass bands sometimes joined forces with the tamboo bamboo bands. The experience gained by the tamboo bamboo men through the union of bamboo and other musical instruments led them to substitute many other objects into the band to replace destroyed tamboo bamboo which often broke on the road through pounding.