Mary Cuffy

As Trinidad and To­ba­go cel­e­brates World Steel­pan Day on Au­gust 11, recog­nis­ing the on­ly acoustic mu­si­cal in­stru­ment in­vent­ed in the 20th cen­tu­ry, the con­ver­sa­tion in­evitably turns to the fu­ture. If you want to know if the fu­ture of the na­tion­al in­stru­ment is se­cure, look no fur­ther than the qui­et, lush agri­cul­tur­al vil­lage of Biche in east Trinidad.

Nes­tled 18 kilo­me­tres south of San­gre Grande and 18 kilo­me­tres north of Rio Claro, Biche is known for its abun­dant cit­rus groves, dense forests, and a tight-knit pop­u­la­tion. It is a place of iso­lat­ed charm. But be­neath its tran­quil rur­al ex­te­ri­or, a mu­si­cal storm is brew­ing, led by a ten-year-old boy who is re­defin­ing what it means to be a young mu­si­cian.

Meet Rayshawn Good­ing, a stan­dard three pupil at Biche RC Pri­ma­ry School, who is rapid­ly be­com­ing a lo­cal leg­end and a shin­ing bea­con of hope for Trinidad and To­ba­go’s mu­si­cal lega­cy.

At an age when most chil­dren are still dis­cov­er­ing their hob­bies, Rayshawn has al­ready mas­tered an as­ton­ish­ing six in­stru­ments: the steel­pan, African drums, gui­tar, cu­a­tro, key­board, and acoustic drum. His mu­si­cal prowess is not the re­sult of re­lent­less, forced tu­tor­ing, but rather the blos­som­ing of a pro­found, nat­ur­al gift.

Ac­cord­ing to his great-un­cle, Win­ston Good­ing, the cred­it for nur­tur­ing this raw, in­nate abil­i­ty be­longs to the fam­i­ly’s deep-root­ed ap­pre­ci­a­tion for mu­sic. “He has a nat­ur­al abil­i­ty,” Mr Good­ing notes with qui­et pride. Recog­nis­ing the spark ear­ly, the fam­i­ly made sure Rayshawn had the en­vi­ron­ment he need­ed to let his tal­ent flour­ish.

The gen­e­sis of his mu­si­cal jour­ney can be traced back to a sin­gle, piv­otal Christ­mas morn­ing. When Rayshawn was just six years old, he un­wrapped a key­board, a gift that would serve as the key to un­lock­ing his bound­less po­ten­tial. What start­ed as a child play­ing with a new toy quick­ly mor­phed in­to a dis­ci­plined, dri­ving pas­sion.

To­day, Rayshawn is a ubiq­ui­tous pres­ence in his com­mu­ni­ty. If there is a so­cial event hap­pen­ing in Biche, you can be al­most cer­tain that Rayshawn is there, in­stru­ment in hand, ready to pro­vide the sound­track to the vil­lage’s joy. He has be­come a fix­ture at lo­cal gath­er­ings, his mu­sic weav­ing him in­to the very fab­ric of Biche’s cul­tur­al life.

But his tal­ent has long out­grown the vil­lage bound­aries. Rayshawn re­cent­ly stepped on­to the na­tion­al stage, play­ing Panora­ma 2026 with the for­mi­da­ble Pan­han­dle Steel Or­ches­tra, a re­mark­able achieve­ment for a ten-year-old pan­nist rub­bing shoul­ders with sea­soned vet­er­ans.

His ex­cel­lence ex­tends be­yond the pan yard. Rep­re­sent­ing Biche RC School, Rayshawn proud­ly show­cased his di­verse mu­si­cal skills in the fi­nals of the pres­ti­gious Prime Min­is­ter’s Best Vil­lage Tro­phy Com­pe­ti­tion in 2025, prov­ing that his abil­i­ties are not just lim­it­ed to one genre or in­stru­ment, but are deeply ver­sa­tile and cul­tur­al­ly ground­ed.

World Steel­pan Day is a time to re­flect on the re­silience, in­no­va­tion, and ge­nius of Trinidad and To­ba­go. The in­stru­ment was born out of re­sis­tance and cre­ativ­i­ty, and its sur­vival de­pends on each new gen­er­a­tion tak­ing up the ba­ton.

As the sun sets over the cit­rus or­chards of Biche and the echoes of Rayshawn’s prac­tice fade in­to the evening air, the glob­al steel­pan com­mu­ni­ty can rest easy. The fu­ture of the pan is not just in good hands; it is in the gift­ed, mul­ti-in­stru­men­tal hands of a ten-year-old boy from Biche who is just get­ting start­ed.

Mary Cuffy is an ed­u­ca­tor and lo­cal chil­dren's au­thor of the La­dy­bug se­ries. Cuffy be­lieves the best in­vest­ment we can make in chil­dren is in the ear­ly years.

Email mary.cuffy@ya­hoo.com . IG:marycuffy . FB: mary cuffy/Lo­la and the Danc­ing La­dy­bug