leave their drums behind, but found the Mahogany trees on the island well suited for the drum base, and they fashioned the drum skin from sheep, goats and cattle. The English slave owners instituted a law in the late 1600s to outlaw the playing of drums, with one of the penalties being death. The plantation owners were afraid the slaves would use the drums to "talk to each other", and organize rebellions. The drums were an intricate part of the African culture, and the African slaves could no more stop playing the drum as they could stop breathing. The slaves simply altered their drum playing to sound like the music of the English fife and drum corps. After this was accomplished, they played during the weekend celebrations and when away from the sugar cane fields. No doubt the slaves did figure out a way to communicate with their drums, and Barbados was one of the earlier islands to abolish slavery. References External links Performance of Landship and Tuk Band at the arrival of the Amistad replica to Barbados in 2008, YouTube Documentary about Tuk and the Barbados Landship Sound samples from the "Barbadian Tuk Music – A Fusion of Musical Cultures" article Afro-Barbadian Barbadian music