Mike Riggert-Harris has been playing steel pan and studying Caribbean music for over 20 years. He is a classically trained musician, having earned Bachelor and Masters degrees in Music Performance, with extensive studies in the music and culture of Trinidad and Tobago. Mike began playing steel pan in Wichita, Kansas as a leader of one of the first U.S. university steel band programs. He has associated with many of the top names in the steel pan industry, having studied briefly with Andy Narell, corresponded with Ellie Mannette (one of the pan pioneers with a strong claim to being the inventor of the steel drum itself, also known as “the father of the modern steel drum instrument”), and is currently studying with Dr. Charles Countee, the president of the West Coast region for Pan Trinbago, the leading authority for the development and protection of the steel pan culture.
Pursuing a solo career in addition to providing the steel pan sound for the Phoenix-based Caribbean Cruisers, Mike has performed extensively with several groups over the years including: Steel Away,
AZZ IZZ, Island Magic, Mango Mango.
Mike has performed with several of the Caribbean's leading musical artists,
including Crazy and Nehemiah Hield.
Recording credits
include: The Maddest, Crazy, Hometown Music HTM728.2 CD, 2006
Maiden Voyage, Caribbean Cruisers, 2002.
Finding Peaches in the Desert, Pamela Uschuk and Chameleon, WingsPress, 2001.
Mike has received national attention including performances at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., and is also active as a soloist, performing steel pan throughout the Valley of the Sun.
Mike
Riggert-Harris
