Who / What is a Panjumbie?

If you are not from the Caribbean you probably wondering who or what a panjumbie is.  The term has two parts:  Pan and Jumbie.

Pan refers to the musical instrument, the pan or steelpan.  In many parts of the world, particularly in the United States, a steelpan is often called a steel drum, a term you may have heard of before.  However, most of those involved in the artform prefer to call the instrument a pan or steelpan, the terms I will use throughout this website.  Steelpans are one of the most recently invented acoustic musical instruments.  The instruments were invented in Trinidad, an island in the Caribbean, in the late 1930s and early 1940s.  Much of the early development of the instrument was done by what some might refer to as "disadvantaged" young people who wanted to make music but could not afford to purchase "professional" instruments.  Nowadays, quality pans are made by highly skilled and trained "pan tuners" and cost as much as or more than many other instruments.

Pan has spread all over the world, both with the migration of "pan players (musicians who play the instrument," and by attracting the interest of people who traveled to Trinidad (and later anywhere pan was played) and brought back an interest in the instrument when they returned home.  Watch this site for more on the instrument and its history, soon to come.

The word "Jumbie" is of African derivation.  In Trinidad, it has historically referred to a spirit, sometimes malevolent in nature.   When someone becomes deeply involved in a particular activity, Trinidadians will say "Ay, the jumbie bit you," meaning you are "hooked" on that activity.  Thus a person deeply involved in steelpan is often referred to as a "panjumbie."  There are many of us.  Hopefully, most panjumbies are not malevolent.

Most pannists have traditionally been taught the music they play by rote.  The leader or arranger dictates the notes or demonstrates them on a pan or other instrument, and the pannists play them, over and over, until they have learned the whole song.  It is important to note that while learning by rote is still the method often used to teach music to pannists, many pannists are now musically literate (often learning to read music in school), and read their music from scores.  Additionally, there is often a place in pan music, particularly pan jazz, for improvisation,  Pannists will use their imagination to insert their own interpretation to a part of the composition, differently each time they play it.