Akwasi Papa Abrefah discusses the spontaneity in the development of steelpan in Trinidad and Tobago -- a process that illuminates the extensive histories of resistance and radical joy tied to the instrument's origins, as these creatives clashed with the policing of pan communities and US militarization. Akwasi will also discuss his work in building a community for the music at Stanford University.

Akwasi Papa Abrefah is a Bay Area based steelpan player - most of his work takes place at Stanford University, the East Bay Center for the Performing Arts in Richmond, and the Bayview Senior Services Center, teaching, directing, and performing with students from 8 to 88. Promoting the unique history and culture of steelpan in ways that emphasize the instrument's ability to relate to stories of resilience, joy, competition, youth ingenuity, and national sovereignty - particularly in Afro-diasporic communities - has always been central to how and why he educates.

Since 2013, Abrefah has participated with competition bands around the world including the Philadelphia Pan Stars for Brooklyn Panorama in New York, NY (2016 & 2018), Ebony Steelband for Notting Hill Panorama in London, England (2019), as well as multiple steel orchestras in the birthplace of steelpan: Trinidad and Tobago. In the largest and most prestigious of all the Panorama competitions in the world - the one held in Port of Spain, Trinidad - he has participated in the Large Band category with Silver Stars Steel Orchestra (2013, 2015-2019, 2022-present), as well as the Medium Band category with Pamberi (2019).

The Black Sound Symposium is a 4-day event full of concerts, talks, workshops, screenings, and interdisciplinary dialogue rooted in Black sound and Black sonic space. The symposium aims to create and sustain community; to celebrate curiosity, wonder, disobedience, collaboration, and play in artistic work; to expand anti-racist and activist pedagogy and methodologies in and outside of our institutions; and to honor the long and rich lineages of Black virtuosity that have been diminished and erased from artistic canons and social consciousness.