Steel drums, the smooth, soothing sound of a mallet on steel that takes you to a tropical island and immediately relaxes the soul and mind. At Barefoot Landing, you can enjoy that feeling every evening starting at 7:00 pm by TBonz.
Here's a little bit of rhythmic rewind and background of the steel drums; the 55 gallon industrial drums or "pans" as they are called by those who play, originated in Trinidad and Tabago somewhere in the time frame of 1880 to 1937. They are part of the percussion family of instruments. There are different classes of drums and that determines the size and type of the rubber tip used when playing the "pan."
At Barefoot Landing, there are several different "pannists" as they are called who play each evening. Some nights Justin Matthews will play. Other nights you will find John Mastroberti. John also occasionally will bring his son Tony or even his wife and the three of them make up the group Tropical Jammers. Tony, who is 14 years old started playing at a very young age and starting performing publically at age 7. He plays at Coastal Carolina University with the other pannists there and still plays in his family's group as well.
John got into playing the steel drums when his oldest son was training under Dr. Tim Peterman, another regular performer for Barefoot Landing. John was intrigued and decided to order a pan from Trinidad. That's when Tony got involved. The Tropical Jammers have played at the Governor's Mansion among other spots. John says of Tony, "he loves to play, he loves the audience and they love him back." John enjoys playing because, "It is a magical form of music and it makes people smile because they don't really understand the instrument, but they love the sound."
That magical sound that soothes the soul and takes you away to that tropical island far away is something we could all use from time to time. And at Barefoot Landing, you can experience that feeling every night from 7:00 to 10:00 pm just by stopping by to hear the steel drummers.