Winston "Spree" Simon (1930 – 18 April 1976) was a
Trinidadian
Trinidadians and Tobagonians, colloquially known as Trinis or Trinbagonians, are the people who are identified with the country of Trinidad and Tobago. The country is home to people of many different national, ethnic and religious origins. As a ...
inventor,
pioneer
Pioneer commonly refers to a settler who migrates to previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited land.
In the United States pioneer commonly refers to an American pioneer, a person in American history who migrated west to join in settling and de ...
and
musician of the
steelpan
The steelpan (also known as a pan, steel drum, and sometimes, collectively with other musicians, as a steelband or steel orchestra) is a musical instrument originating in Trinidad and Tobago. Steelpan musicians are called pannists.
Descriptio ...
.
Life
Simon was born in Laventille,
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...
. He is credited with the invention of the ''Ping Pong'' steelpan instrument.
Simon also was part of
TASPO
, formerly known as , is a smart card using RFIDhttp://www.tokyomango.com/tokyo_mango/2007/03/taspo_rfid_card.html Taspo RFID Card For Cigarette Machines - Tokyo Mango developed by the Tobacco Institute of Japan (TIOJ), the , and the for i ...
, the ''Trinidad All Steel Percussion Orchestra'' and visited
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...
in 1951.
Winston "Spree" Simon worked closely with Anthony Williams, who later invented the fourth and fifth soprano pan. Simon also gave
Bertie Marshall significant impulses for his work in developing harmonical tuning.
The American musician and composer
Van Dyke Parks
Van Dyke Parks (born January 3, 1943) is an American musician, songwriter, arranger, and record producer who has composed various film and television soundtracks. He is best known for his 1967 album ''Song Cycle'' and for his collaborations with ...
celebrated the life of Winston Simon in the song "Tribute to Spree" on his album ''
Clang of the Yankee Reaper'' written and first recorded by the late great
Lord Kitchener.
Further reading
* Felix I. R. Blake, ''The Trinidad and Tobago Steel Pan. History and Evolution''.
* Stephen Stuempfle, ''The Steelband Movement: The Forging of a National Art in Trinidad and Tobago'', Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1995
*
Cy Grant
Cyril Ewart Lionel "Cy" Grant (8 November 1919 – 13 February 2010) was a Guyanese actor, musician, writer, and poet. In the 1950s, he became the first black person to be featured regularly on television in Britain,Kurt Barling '' The Inde ...
, ''Ring of Steel: Pan Sound and Symbol'', Macmillan Caribbean, 1999,
See also
*
Steelpan
The steelpan (also known as a pan, steel drum, and sometimes, collectively with other musicians, as a steelband or steel orchestra) is a musical instrument originating in Trinidad and Tobago. Steelpan musicians are called pannists.
Descriptio ...
*
Ellie Mannette
Notes
External links
* http://www.nalis.gov.tt/Biography/history_PanPioneers_WinstonSimonEllieMannette.htm
* Terry Joseph
"Remembering 'Spree' Simon" TriniSoca.com, 18 April 2001
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simon, Winston
1930 births
1976 deaths
Steelpan musicians
Trinidad and Tobago musicians
Date of birth missing
Place of death missing