Tuk Bands and Tea Meeting in Barbados

The Tuk bands are Barbadian musical ensembles, consisting of a bow-fiddle or pennywhistle flute, kittle triangle and a snare and double headed bass drum. The kittle and bass drum provide the rhythm, while the flute gives the melody. The drums are light-weight so they can be carried easily, and are made by both rural villagers and drummers using cured sheepskin and goatskin. The Tuk bands are based on the British military’s regimental bands, which played for several years on special ceremonies like visiting royalty and coronations. The Tuk sound has evolved over the years and the instrumentation were mainly bow-fiddle before being replaced by the pennywhistle flute. Tuk bands are now most common in Landship events, but are still sometimes played independently

source of picture: planetbarbadosblog.com