[UPDATED] Trinidad and Tobago creators, musicians team up for Google Doodles steelpan collab

USERS who visited the online search engine Google’s homepage on Tuesday were able to hear the sound of this country’s national instrument, the steelpan.

Google regularly features interactive and informative doodles on its homepage.

And on Tuesday, it said it was “celebrating Trinidad and Tobago’s national instrument and the history behind it,” as it was the 71st anniversary of the Trinidad All-Steel Pan Percussion Orchestra’s (TASPO) performance at the Festival of Britain.

In a tweet on Tuesday morning, Google doodles said, “#DYK (Did you know) there was only one acoustic instrument invented during the 20th century? The steelpan was created by resilient and innovative musicians in TT.”

When you click on the doodle, you are redirected to an animated YouTube video.

It begins with a truck driving through the streets and moves to a man forging an instrument from an oil drum, transitioning into someone playing the finished product.

It then shows steelbands performing at Panorama, and also features a panyard, doubles and snow cone vendors, among other things.

TT illustrator and graphic designer Nicholas Huggins illustrated the video, and 3D artist and motion designer Mick Seegobin did motion design. Jazz trumpeter Etienne Charles was the composer and the soloist was arranger and founder of the Phase II Pan Groove, Len “Boogsie” Sharpe.

Other players credited include Josanne Francis, Jonathan Castro and Luke Walker.

Huggins posted on Twitter: “Well the cat is out the bag. I have created a Google doodle on steelpan! Happy to keep flying the TT flag high!”

He told Newsday he was initially approached by Google in June 2020 and the project was intended to be a static image to be used the following month.

"The art director at Google Doodles got in touch with me on Instagram and basically introduced herself and said they have a project they want me to work on.

"At that point in time, I didn't really know what it was, because they needed me to sign a NDA (non-disclosure agreement) before I was even able to hear what the topic was."

After he signed the NDA, the idea was explained to him and he was thrilled.

But he felt TT's culture was too rich to be represented by just a static image.

"I said we should animate it, add music...(I knew) there was so much more that can be done to showcase the steelpan, and I think the music was one of the most important aspects of the whole thing."

Once the Google Doodles team supported his vision, they asked for recommendations for pannists, which was how Charles and Sharpe came on board.

"The process was really good. I think, definitely, my nerves calmed once I started working on it.

"But, of course, as with any project, you want to hit it out the park – especially something with so much cultural significance and something that's going to be broadcast to a global audience."

By 9 am on Tuesday, the video had already had over three million views and Huggins said the feeling was crazy and overwhelming.

"It feels like Christmas and birthday kind of rolled into one, with the number of messages I've been getting.

"The thing is, Trinbagonians love to see some recognition for the great things we've done here, and I think this definitely highlights that."

He finished his part of the project around November 2021, but only saw the final product last week.

"When I got it sent to me last week, I watched it so many times.

"I've been super-excited about this project for two years and couldn't talk about it."

He had a brief moment of panic, as on Monday night, someone messaged him to congratulate him on the "Google project," which he was not allowed to mention until the day it was released.

"I was like, 'OMG (because) I put together a blog post on my website and I was like, 'Did I publish the blog post without waiting for the correct time?'

"But what happened was, it released at midnight in Japan so it started making the rounds (on social media) from Monday evening."

Charles told Newsday he too was a bit nervous "because it was such a big scale, but there was also just excitement to get to work on a team of great Trinbagonians.

"I wanted to make sure we recorded real pans. I didn't want to use synthesised pan or any type of sound from a computer. So everything you hear is real, even the tuning of the pan.

He said the feedback has been incredible and that he's thrilled to "put Trinbago on the map, 100 per cent.

"It's very warming for me. My birthday was two days ago and it's like a birthday present.

"The steelpan is a magical form and it's our greatest export. It needs to be enjoyed all year round.

"I'm grateful for the opportunity to get to present our culture this way on this platform and I hope it inspires people to take time to enjoy what we have in TT."

For Seegobin, finding out what the project actually was, after signing the NDA, was exciting.

"When Nick (Huggins) pitched the idea, I immediately told him yes. We usually work together and he has such a good instinct for doing cool projects and just doing amazing things, so most times when he asks anything, the answer is usually yes."

When he saw the final edit, he was overcome with joy and pride, he told Newsday.

"I think everyone just brought their A-game...I just loved it, it was brilliant.

"It was satisfying to know it was something we as Trinbagonians are proud of. I got a couple messages from people saying it made them so happy and proud and I am just so happy it caused that reaction."

This story has been updated to include additional information. Read original below:

IF you visit the online search engine Google’s homepage today, you'll get to hear the sound of this country’s national instrument, the steelpan.

Google regularly features interactive and informative doodles on its homepage.

This time, it said, it is “celebrating Trinidad and Tobago’s national instrument and the history behind it,” as it’s the 71st anniversary of the Trinidad All-Steel Pan Percussion Orchestra’s (TASPO) performance at the Festival of Britain.

In a tweet on Tuesday morning, Google doodles said, “#DYK (Did you know) there was only one acoustic instrument invented during the 20th century? The steelpan was created by resilient and innovative musicians in TT.”

When you click on the doodle, you are redirected to an animated YouTube video.

It begins with a truck driving through the streets and moves to a man forging an instrument from an oil drum, transitioning into someone playing the finished product.

It then shows steelbands performing at Panorama, and also features a panyard, doubles and snow cone vendors, among other things.

TT illustrator and graphic designer Nicholas Huggins illustrated the video, and 3D artist and motion designer Mick Seegobin did motion design. Jazz trumpeter Etienne Charles was the composer and the soloist was arranger and founder of the Phase II Pan Groove, Len “Boogsie” Sharpe.

Other players credited include Josanne Francis, Jonathan Castro and Luke Walker.

Huggins posted on Twitter: “Well the cat is out the bag. I have created a Google doodle on steelpan! Happy to keep flying the TT flag high!”

Charles posted to Facebook: “We did a thing. When Angelica McKinley reached out and told me the idea and who was on the team, I jumped. Thanks for trusting me to put what I hear with what you see, Nicholas Huggins.”

Pan Trinbago also shared the doodle on Facebook.