Ellie mannette biography
Elliot "Ellie" Mannette - Masters of Traditional Arts!
Ellie mannette biography
Ellie Mannette crafting a drum at his workshop in Morgantown, W.Va., in 2006. He was among the first to fashion a steel drum that had all the notes of the chromatic scale, so it could play any melody in any key.
– Photo (Mannette Musical Instruments)
Elliot “Ellie” Mannette (5 November 1927 – 29 August 2018) was a Trinidadian musical instrument maker and steel pan musician, also known as “father of the modern steel pan instrument”.
Elliot was born in Sans Souci, Trinidad, Mannette where he developed a passion for metalworking.
He delved deeply into the developing musical sounds from steel pans. In his youthful age starting from 11 years old he became involved in steel bands. Many people in Trinidad& Tobago believe that Mannette was the first person to use a discarded oil barrel to build a steel pan.
He crafted the lid to create a playing surface and fired the metal to improve the acoustic properties.
In 1951, TASPO (Trinidad All Steel Percussion Orchestra) traveled t