Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA - ...Ms. Solomon’s family moved to the Steel City in 1984. Leigh was 5 years old when her parents decided to settle here after moving to the Bronx in New York City from Georgetown, Guyana, on the northern coast of South America.
Two things made the transition easier. First was the family.
....Second was her father’s passion — a steelpan. It bound the family together. Mr. Solomon was a known steelpan maker in Guyana, and the instrument helped the family build ties to Pittsburgh because the girls were performers. Audiences clapped and that helped Ms. Solomon and her sisters build confidence.
A steelpan was also an ice-breaker. When people in Pittsburgh would learn that the girls were performers, they would ask, “So do you sing?” That question motivated Ms. Solomon and her sisters to talk about steelpans, Guyana, their family and their culture. “No,” they would say, “we play the steelpan.”
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