Steelpan Musicians Honor the Ancestors of the Middle Passage at Tribute in Coney Island
New York- Utopia Pan Soul - The Next Generation celebrated the ancestors through their performance with the musical instrument that more so than any other, represents the true mettle of the African people: their genius, survival, defiance and promise. The steelpan instrument is a gift to the world by the descendants of the millions of Africans who were lost in the Middle Passage as part of that “coming to America” experience.
Utopia Pan Soul’s performance unfolded amid a surreal setting as huge tankers carrying miscellaneous cargo could be seen in the distance coming in from the Atlantic Ocean, tracking through an eerily similar route at that point, as used by slave ships not so long ago - carrying as human cargo in their hulls - the very ancestors of all the performers at Saturday’s tribute to the Ancestors. It is not commonly known that Coney Island was one of the major drop-off points (disembarkment) for many of the African slaves in this hemisphere.
