The Drumesse
Danielle, affectionately known as “Steel Pan Dan,” was born and raised in the Bronx, New York. Raised in an Antiguan household, culture was not unfamiliar to the young pan prodigy. Danielle remembers her musical journey starting in the car. Her father would listen to a variety of musical genres on her rides to and from school: jazz, reggae, calypso, rock and a lot of R&B, new and old. “I vividly remember listening to Kiss from a Rose by Seal every time we drove along Webster Ave by Woodlawn Cemetery. It was absolute bliss singing at the top of my lungs while my father pretended to be a maestro.” On the weekends, she would listen to different variations of classic hymns and gospel songs with her mother. Her early exposure led to an early love for culture and music.
Danielle’s formal musical training began under the direction of her uncle at the United Moravian Church in Harlem. Her formal training as a drumesse began in Harmony Steel Orchestra on the lead tenor pan, coined “Lucille,” the shiny melodic drum you see and hear today. She attributes her musical training to two legends in pan: Reverend Dr. Ulston Patmore Smith and Clifton Anthony, both famed arrangers/composers out of the beautiful twin islands of Antigua and Barbuda.
Music has not been the same since 1999. Danielle has since then performed with a number of bands and artists and a range of events, including Antigua’s Carnival and DC’s own music and market, AfroSocaLove. One notable experience is performing with reggae gospel artist, Carlene Davis, at Trinity Baptist Church in the Bronx. In 2007, she recorded an album with her church group, United in Harmony Steel Orchestra, as one of the lead single tenors. She also has performed in a number of notable venues, particularly in her home state of New York: the UN, City Hall, The Bronx Museum of Art, Fordham University, the Office of the Mayor of Mount Vernon, the historic Schomburg Center and the list continues. New York has only been one stop on her musical journey. The drumesse is no guest to international waters. In 2008, she was selected to be a part of a select group of young Americans to play pan with one of the larger famed steel orchestras out of Antigua. She recalls the experience to be one to remember, as it was her first time leaving the country to play pan and practice from the afternoon until the wee hours of the morning for two weeks straight.
Danielle is currently establishing her name in the DMV, where she currently resides with her puppy, Dolce. When she isn’t playing pan, Danielle’s other superpower is that she is a veteran educator, having taught STEM for ten years in Brooklyn, the Bronx, Connecticut, Maryland and Washington, DC. When she isn’t teaching, she’s playing her steel pan at local bars, restaurants, churches, schools and other events and venues throughout the DMV. In January of this year, she played for the opening of “A Jouvay Dream,” at the CulturalHouse DC, for famed African-American artist, Nyugen Smith. This is only the beginning of the legacy the young drumesse is about to leave on the world.
