The Tri-Cities Steel Band Association (TCSBA) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in West Richland, Washington. We promote world music in the Mid-Columbia region through education and music performance. The organization currently sponsors four performance bands: two steeldrum bands (OK2Botay and Bram Bratá) and two marimba bands (‘Bahuru and ‘Baduku).TCSBA conducts instructional classes o
n steel drum and marimba year round, including intensive summer classes geared for students of varying abilities. The association began as an idea of a few parents of Kid Calypso (a steel band at Tapteal Elementary School) players in the spring of 1996 when the school district was resistant to the idea of opening a steel band program at the middle and high school levels. Seeing that their children would soon have no opportunity to continue developing their steel drum skills as they moved on from elementary school, this handful of persistent parents decided to sponsor a community-based steel drum band, Bram Bratá. A second steeldrum band, OK2Botay, was added in 1998. In 2008 we expanded into Zimbabwean marimba music, adding the ‘Bahuru performing marimba band, and in 2011, we added a middle school-aged marimba band, ‘Baduku. Our bands routinely perform throughout the Pacific Northwest and have played in Hawaii, Disneyland, Sea World and other venues.
