On the day the world celebrated T&T’s national instrument, came an historic day for the steelpan. The Musical Instruments of Trinidad and Tobago Company Limited (MITTCO) officially opened its doors in Diego martin, yesterday.
MITTCO is a steelpan manufacturing facility at the Diamond Vale Business Park that promotes reliable artisan production of steelpans through a combination of traditional and innovative manufacturing processes.
During the launching, brainchild and Director of Business Development of MITTCO, Akua Leith, said seeing his idea come to life was surreal.
“The energy has been happening for quite some time, 2018 the idea came, 2019, I met with Mario and Mr Hacket later that year, I met with the Hadad brothers and HADCO and then we started to establish this in 2020,” Leith said.
He said the factory started manufacturing in 2021 not just to build stock but to test the quality of a state-of-the-art instrument.
“We actually sold our very first pan to Peter Cavendish, the Ambassador of the European Union,” Leith said
He said they were always going to launch during August to coincide with the celebration of Pan Month and there was no better day than World Steelpan Day.
Director Mario Joseph, who has been in the pan fraternity for 35-plus years, said yesterday was a glorious day for them, as it showed the world who is the mecca of the steelpan.
Joseph said this factory will not only produce steelpans but give young people interested in the steelpan an opportunity to learn about the musical instrument.
“So, the dying art won’t die,” he said.
Minister of Trade and Industry Paula Gopee-Scoon, during her address, said the facility showed this country’s national instrument is not in danger.
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