Antigua First Steel Bands

Antigua Steelband Players
Songs Description
  • HELL'S GATE STEEL BAND
  • Bila El Mambo
  • Mambo
  • La Veda ni Meringue  (brute-f)
  • SHELL STEEL BAND
  • Anna (Samba)
  • Kamaquilt
  • Sunny Side Of The Street
  • Quancito Meringue  (hells-g)

Steel Band Clash is an open-air recorded album of three 16-man oil drum orchestras from Antigua composed of 55-gallon oil drums, maracas, gourd, and 15kc cricket chorus. The names of the steel bands are Big Shell, Brute Force, and Hell's Gate.

Evolution Of Steelbands

The recording is not the best, but it captures what steelbans sounded like back in the forties. The roots and evolution of steelbands in Antigua trace back to the steelband players and pan builders of that era.

This songs here are from side B of the album featuring Shell, Hellsgate, and Bruteforce. Side A features Hellsgate alone. You can listen the whole album and learn more about the history of steel bands in Antigua and the Caribbean at anbanet.com/antigua-steelbands.html.