Free steel pan music at Goethe-Institut

The monthly Flea Market (open air stock exchange) at the Goethe-Institut in Accra this afternoon will be spiced by a free two-hour  solo performance by Ghana’s only steel pan player, Nii Buckie.

He will be in action from  1.00pm to 3.00pm and will render a wide repertoire of songs on his instrument.

Though the steel pan originated the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, it has been adopted worldwide into popular music. The chromatically pitched percussion instrument is made from big gallons that formerly contained oil and like substances. Steel pan musicians are called pannists.

Nii Buckie, who was a found member of the Nokoko band in Ghana in the 1980s, learnt to play the steel pan in Germany where he lived for 25 years. He is a multi-instrumentalist but plays more of the steel pan these days because of its uniqueness and the flexibility it gives him to express himself.

The musician says he would play a mixture of highlife, soul, jazz, reggae and calypso this afternoon.

A Goethe-Institut official implored potential shoppers, after strolling around and grabbing a few eco-friendlly  items, to relax and enjoy some free but great pan music from Nii Buckie.