The birth of various forms of musical expression in Trinidad and Tobago serves as a historical lesson on the resilience and resourcefulness of those who have walked before us, even in the face of attempts by colonial forces to stifle their creative bravado.

Before the steelpan, widely known today as the national instrument of Trinidad and Tobago, there was its forefather, the Tamboo Bamboo.

The word tamboo is derived from the French word ‘tambour’ which means drum.

When Trinidad and Tobago began holding Carnivals in the late 1700s, enslaved people would hold their own celebrations separate from the French planters, fuelled by drums.

Once slavery was abolished in 1834 and the celebrations became more intense, the government eventually moved to impose a ban on the playing of drums in an attempt to stifle the creativity of the people through the exertion of control.

But after skinned drums were banned by the British government in 1884, enslaved Africans would only go on to find another means of making music, utilizing bamboo to make the percussion instrument.

According to the National Carnival Commission, the Tamboo Bamboo bands “consisted of pieces of bamboo cut to different lengths so that a variety of pitches could be obtained. These provided the rhythm for a percussion band, which was accompanied by a chant, usually a call and answer refrain.”

The Make-up of Tamboo Bamboo Bands

As the precursor to the steelpan, there are some obvious commonalities between the two instruments, one being the fact that players of both percussion inventions joined to form bands, which would mainly be featured during Carnival time.

Various players would carry different sizes and weights of bamboos, with the mixtures combining to produce a more harmonic sound when played together. The tamboo bamboo did not have the advanced level of tonal balance that the steelpan did, as those tonal changes that became possible on a steel drum (which is used to make a steelpan) only happened much later through the genius of our early steelpan pioneers.

Instead, the tamboo bamboo bands focused mainly on rhythmic ensembles through the various sounds. The different types of tamboo bamboo were known as:

-The “Boom”, as the name suggests, refers to the base bamboo and was made using a long and heavy piece of cured bamboo, measuring approximately 5ft. long and 5 inches in diameter. The “boom” would be held upright by its player, producing a resonant sound when struck on the ground. The player could tweak the quality of the sound the bass bamboo produces, just based on the angle they chose to hold it to the ground.

– The Foule, also known as the fullers, is what represented the tenor pitch in a tamboo bamboo band. Its sizing would be 12 inches long and 3 inches wide, slightly smaller in diameter than a “boom”, though much shorter.

-Providing the soprano pitch was what is known as the “cutters” which measured 25 inches long and about 3.5 inches in diameter.  Players were required to hold the bamboo across their shoulders, striking the side of the bamboo with a piece of hardwood to produce a sound.

Finally, the “Chandlers” represented the alto pitch and measured a little larger than the “Cutters”.

From 1884 to the mid-1930s, the tamboo bamboo formed an integral part of Carnival celebrations, seen in street processions with accompanying brass and string instrumental bands.

By the year 1934, however, the percussive instrument was banned by the authorities after rival gangs started sharpening the bamboo to a point, using it as weapons. The steelpan is now widely accepted and revered the world over, though interestingly enough, some of the steel bands of today were once popular tamboo bamboo bands in the 1930s. These include the Calvary Bamboo Band which later became Alexander’s Ragtime Band, Hell Yard Bamboo Band which became Cross of Lorraine to what is known today as the Trinidad All Stars Steel Band and the Dead End Kids, now known as Desperadoes.

Though less popular today, the tamboo bamboo is still played by some groups, particularly in rural communities, and remains a revered part of our cultural and musical history.