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Friday, February 28, 2025

Trini man recalls gifting steelpan to US President Trump

by

Elizabeth Gonzales
38 days ago
20250121
Steelpan player Leslie Jordano, right, poses for a photo with US President Donald Trump back in October 1996. The two met when Jordano played the pan at Trump’s daughter Tiffany’s birthday party in Florida, USA.

Steelpan player Leslie Jordano, right, poses for a photo with US President Donald Trump back in October 1996. The two met when Jordano played the pan at Trump’s daughter Tiffany’s birthday party in Florida, USA.

To­ba­go Cor­re­spon­dent 

When pro­fes­sion­al steel­pan play­er Leslie Jor­dano and his band re­ceived an in­vi­ta­tion to per­form at a high-pro­file event in Oc­to­ber 1996, he had no idea it would lead to a mem­o­rable con­nec­tion with bil­lion­aire busi­ness­man Don­ald Trump.

Now, al­most 30 years lat­er, as Trump re­claimed the US pres­i­den­cy yes­ter­day, Jor­dano said he was ho­n­oured to watch his in­au­gu­ra­tion and rem­i­nisce on their unique en­counter with a mix of nos­tal­gia and pride.

“I’ll walk with the pho­to when I vis­it the US again,” Jor­dano told Guardian Me­dia.

“But I know he’ll re­mem­ber me.”

He was hired to play at Trump’s daugh­ter Tiffany’s birth­day par­ty in Mal­ibu, Flori­da. It was meant to be an or­di­nary per­for­mance but a phone call dur­ing the event turned Jor­dano’s evening in­to some­thing ex­tra­or­di­nary.

“My fi­ancée, who was preg­nant, went in­to labour. I couldn’t call her back from the venue, so I rushed to a near­by mall to get a call. When I re­turned, every­one told me, ‘Don­ald Trump is look­ing for you.’ I won­dered, ‘What could he pos­si­bly want with me?’”

Jor­dano re­called Trump per­son­al­ly ap­proach­ing him mo­ments lat­er and shak­ing his hands. 

“I apol­o­gised for not be­ing there ear­li­er and ex­plained that I was check­ing on my preg­nant fi­ancée. Trump laughed and said, ‘Oh, so I’m go­ing to be an un­cle or god­fa­ther?’”

But the con­ver­sa­tion didn’t stop there. He said Trump’s cu­rios­i­ty shift­ed to the steel­pan. “He was fas­ci­nat­ed. He even asked if the steel drum was patent­ed. I told him it was patent­ed in Trinidad, but he want­ed to know if it was patent­ed in the US.”

Jor­dano re­mem­bers Trump’s in­ter­est went be­yond ca­su­al con­ver­sa­tion.

“He hit a few notes on the pan and said, ‘This is won­der­ful.’ He talked about us­ing his con­nec­tions, par­tic­u­lar­ly through his sis­ter, who was a sen­a­tor dur­ing Ronald Rea­gan’s ad­min­is­tra­tion, to push the in­stru­ment fur­ther.”

As a to­ken of ap­pre­ci­a­tion, Jor­dano gift­ed Trump his tenor pan with the Trinidad and To­ba­go na­tion­al flag on it.

“I’m sure it’s some­where in his base­ment. Not sure if he’d find it 30 years lat­er, though.”

Jor­dano felt the brief in­ter­ac­tion left a last­ing im­pres­sion on them both.

“He wasn’t just a busi­ness­man; he was a thinker. He told me, ‘In busi­ness, it’s bet­ter to be feared than loved. When peo­ple fear you, they stay away from you.’ He al­so said that when you make mon­ey, you should give back to char­i­ty.”

Trump’s ad­vice en­cour­aged Jor­dano to take a leap of faith.

“Short­ly af­ter that, I reg­is­tered my own busi­ness. It’s some­thing I’ll al­ways be grate­ful for.”

Jor­dano’s ca­reer in mu­sic spans decades. He be­gan play­ing the steel­pan at age 19, join­ing the icon­ic North Stars steel­band in 1958.

Re­flect­ing on his en­counter with Trump, Jor­dano sees it as more than just a chance meet­ing.

“I re­alised he ap­pre­ci­at­ed the cul­ture and art of the pan.”

As Trump steps back in­to the po­lit­i­cal spot­light, Jor­dano hopes to re­con­nect with him.

“I’d love to con­grat­u­late him again and talk about how pan has de­vel­oped over the years. I’m proud to have shared the steel­pan with some­one who ap­pre­ci­at­ed it on such a lev­el.”

For Jor­dano, the pho­to of him and Trump is proof of the pow­er of mu­sic to bridge worlds.


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