by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

Trinidadian Montrealer Salah Wilson is a man with a mission, and that mission is the steelpan. That's the melodic percussion instrument associated with calypso music - an old oil barrel sawed down and hammered into a sort of one-piece xylophone - instantly recognizable for its bright, sharp, resonant sound. Wilson is a steelpan champion, by which I mean not a top-notch player, though he is that, but rather someone who has dedicated his life to promoting the pan, bringing it to new musical forms, schooling young and old in its use and documenting its history - and future.

Among his myriad steelpan projects, Wilson heads the Steelpan Academy, located in a civic centre in Ville St-Laurent. His students, "kids from age six to 96," come from any number of cultures and backgrounds, including a few who are autistic. Taking a break from rehearsals for the upcoming Winter Steelpan Festival, Wilson lays a neat fact on this writer.

"It's not only the newest instrument of the last century," he reveals, "but a complete family of instruments that have been invented. We have bass, tenor, alto and soprano steelpans. And there are many more types of instruments inside that, but those are the basics."

From the ghetto to Expo

The steelpan family does have a troubled history. "I grew up with a steelpan in my backyard, and I wasn't even allowed to go near it because it was associated with the bad elements of society. To be known as a steelpan player, a pan man, that's really bad news. Stay away from those guys. So it was difficult for decent guys to be involved. Can you imagine women? Forget it, that's out of the question!

"If you go back to the names of the groups at a certain time, they contained a certain type of gang violence, like the gangs of West Side Story. You had groups with names like the Desperadoes and the Invaders, names that suggested bad guys and violence, because that was the whole concept."

While at one time Trinidad's colonial authorities did everything to suppress the steelpan, its chiming tones just couldn't be contained. In fact, they would come to represent the island nation down at the tail end of the Caribbean. But it was a much colder island that helped the pan get recognized the world over.

"Montreal plays a very important part in the history of steelpan. At Expo 67, the world's biggest fair that had ever happened, the Trinidad pavillion featuring a steelband was one of the main feature attractions. I've met so many people who say what they remember most was the steelpan band. So here was this major international forum for the exposition of the steelpan. It made a great impact on the history of the instrument.

"Steelpan today is quite different from when I first started. It's really international. You can go on the Internet and find 20 steelpan Web sites in Switzerland, for example. It has grown. The instrument is at least 50 years old now, so it's a big boy. I saw a steelpan in a country & western group - there was a blond-haired guy in a cowboy hat who came out and really blew me away."

A pan for all seasons

No doubt that pan-handlin' cowpoke would be equally impressed with what Wilson's students can do with Mozart's "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik." That's just one item from the program of the 10th annual Winter Steelpan Festival. Subtitled Classics and Carols to Calypso 2003, the event is more diverse than its summertime counterpart at Place Émilie-Gamelin, bringing pros and young amateurs together and bringing the steelpan into whole new zones. Jazz, classical and holiday tunes are on the menu, a steelpan showdown is slated and major names from Canadian calypso and beyond are scheduled to appear.

"We have a very important steelpan teacher and soloist, Kenrick Headley, coming in all the way from Vancouver. We have the tap dancer Travis Knight, so we'll introduce for the first time steelpan and tap."

Where the pan once went hand in hand with gang violence, Wilson intends to use it as a helping hand out of that dead end. "What's very important is that right now, there's a cycle of violence in the black community. So what I'm doing now is offering scholarships, two years of free schooling at my private school. It's not the solution, but it's something that we have to try to do, because we're lacking solutions. I want to invite parents and relatives of troubled kids to send them along. We're going to keep their minds occupied. And it's for the public - black or white, troubled kids are troubled kids."

The Winter Steelpan Festival, with Salah's Steelpan Academy, Jab Jab, Sayyd Abdul Al Khabyyr, Kenrick Headley, Travis Knight and much more, is at Wagar High School Auditorium (5785 Parkhaven in Côte-St-Luc) on Sunday, Dec. 7, 3pm, $12 (seniors and students $7)

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