The modern pan is a chromatically pitched percussion instrument (although some toy or novelty steelpans are tuned diatonically, and some older style round the neck instruments have even fewer notes), made from 55 gallon drums that formerly contained oil and like substances.French planters and their slaves emigrated to Trinidad during the French Revolution (1789) from Martinique, including a number of West Africans, and French creoles from Saint Vincent, Grenada, Saint Lucia and Dominica, establishing a local community before Trinidad and Tobago were taken from Spain by the British. Carnival had arrived with the French, and the slaves, who could not take part in Carnival, formed their own, parallel celebration called canboulay.