Pan scores at Fire Festival - Cuba

Trinidad and Tobago Newsday 

Havana, Cuba - Santiago de Cuba is regarded as the cultural capital of Cuba, and just recently has deepened its mix of “frenetic, passionate and noisy beauty” with the pan.

They love the pan,” declared pan aficionado, pioneer and arranger Merlin “Mutt” Gill, who was in Cuba for the annual Fiesta del Fuego (Fire Festival) last month.


He also donated two tenor pans to an ensemble comprising players between the ages of seven and 13, and some adults.

“My heart went out to them when I heard them play,” Gill told Newsday. “They love the pan, they love music. I will make the band a very big one. I also promised them a tuner and I am willing to pay for someone to go to Cuba and tune their pans.”

Adults from the steelpan band of El Cobre perform at the Caribbean House in Santiago de Cuba.

Gill’s magnanimity did not end with his presentation of the two pans to the young Cubans.

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