The steel pan bands playing to preserve a cultural legacy
ITV News Arts Editor Nina Nannar went to meet the Mangrove Steelband as they get ready for this years' Panorama national competition
Being in a room with up to 100 people playing steel pans is an exhilarating experience.
I was invited to watch Mangrove, one of the most successful steelbands in Europe as they rehearsed for what is hailed the FA Cup of steelband competitions.
Panorama began in Trinidad and Tobago, where the modern form of steel pan music originated from.
The competition has since taken place in other parts of the world, including the UK, where it is staged on the Saturday of the Notting Hill Carnival weekend.
The players I met are regulars at the Tabernacle, a former church which is now an arts and entertainment venue, where they practise their music on adapted oil drums, each elaborately shaped to give a different note.
They make an extraordinary sound when they play. They range from young to old, are multiracial and have spent years leaving school or work and heading to the venue in Notting Hill to play.
Competing in Panorama is just part of the mission. For the younger musicians it’s an opportunity to engage in their cultural heritage and to share in the legacy of their parents' and grandparents' generations.
But for most it’s just great fun. You can see it in their faces, the way they throw themselves around the steel pans that surround them to get the right sounds.
It's physical and most definitely an orchestra. Being recognised as on a par with other orchestras in Britain has also become part of the mission.
I speak to Andrew Facey, who is the captain of Mangrove, and a driving force behind promoting an art form that he says should be taken more seriously by funders.
He tells me that a number of bands have finished, through lack of funds. How once there were regularly more than 10 bands competing for Panorama but that number now is sometimes below five.
Some bands have to pay the full costs of a rehearsal space, he tells me, as well as paying the costs of their instruments, and pay for lessons.
Tuning the pans has to be done professionally and costs more than £50.
Competition for central funding for arts organisations is huge, but he says bands like his sometimes have no financial help at all. The suspicion is that steel bands are not regarded as a proper music form, he says.
Perhaps now more than ever, it is an important demonstration of Britain today.
"I am Black and I am British," he says, "and this is me," gesturing around the rehearsal room ringing to the sounds of calypso.
So as Notting Hill prepares for visitors numbering an estimated two million, there is one sound above all others that will signify carnival.
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The Festival of Britain in 1951 saw the first steelband performance in the UK, the Trinidad All Steel pan percussion orchestra.
The culture has been kept alive here by the Windrush generation, and after racial tensions in the late 50s and 60s, the Notting Hill communities began what has become the largest festival in Europe.
After a troubling few weeks in the UK with the horrific riots, this forthcoming August Bank Holiday weekend will be a time of multicultural celebration, a reminder of how diverse Britain really is, and how incredible the masters of the steel pan can sound together.
Tickets are on sale for the Panorama competition now, taking place on Saturday August 24.
Unscripted is ITV News' arts and entertainment podcast, brought to you by ITV News Arts Editor Nina Nannar. In each episode, Nina speaks to a leading name from the world of arts and entertainment.