Roy Geddes Steel Pan Museum, Demerara-Mahaica, Guyana
4.5 (6 reviews) Spent < 1 hour Ranking #15 in Georgetown Speciality Museums
My Visit to Roy Geddes' House museum
In all honesty, I am not someone who greatly enjoys museums but I do have an appreciation for places of historical value. Roy Geddes' House is filled with history and memories. I was surprised how many things he managed to salvage over the years. As well as his talent I actually respect his attention to details. Besides the you can see and learn about in the house. The main draw is that you have Roy Geddes himself taking you on this tour. You get to hear his history directly from the horses mouth, and all for $10. I would highly recommend this tour
Address
190 Roxanne Burnham Gardens South Ruimveldt, Georgetown, Guyana.
Mobile
Current local date and time now
Saturday, May 11, 2024, 5:03
User Ratings
4.5 based on (6 reviews)
Reviews
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4Poleinahole 5:00 PM Oct 6, 2017
Unique But Pricey
The cab driver doing our city tour took us here and we are so glad he did! You will get a unique experience as the garden is lush and well tended and the smaller house crammed with steel pan memorabilia. Roy will show you how they make steel pans from drums and then tune them with a tuning fork. He is very into discipline and slogans as he believes it is essential to being a great musician. He will play a tune and let you try one too. Upstairs, his wife takes over and lets you hear different tin pan music. Entry is now $20 a person. Sky high and we initially couldn't believe the price and only paid $10 each, but came back later to pay when we realized they really did mean $20. $30 gets you dinner or lunch with the Geddes but must be arranged in advance.
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4kattrain 5:00 PM Jun 16, 2017
A treasure for steel drum lovers
Having an afternoon free, we went to this museum/steel panmen shrine on the spur of with no expectations of what we would find. We arrived at what seemed like a tiny slice of Cuba: a front yard filled with folksy tree ornaments, handmade lifesize cutouts of famous steel drum makers and performers, lots of flowers and Roy Geddes himself. He and his wife Pamela have collected memorabilia since the 1950's about all the steel panmen greats, including Roy. He is not just a performer, he also makes and tunes steel pans and it is possible to see a few that he is in the process of creating. He will also play a song or two...for us it was one Caribbean tune and one intricate, classical piece. We also got to try a few notes. The walls of the museum were literally wallpapered with old photographs, programmes and newspaper articles. For the music historian, plan a few hours. For others 1/2 hr to 45 minutes will probably be enough. It is possible to arrange ahead of time to eat dinner with Roy and Pamela. It is probably best to call ahead for any visit although we went and just stood at the front gate and made some noise and he came to let us in. He keeps the gate locked always, so even when open the gate will probably be closed. We had read that a visit would be free, but that was not the case. It is a bit pricey at US 10 per person, but that is probably negotiable. The money goes to upkeep as it is a private museum so we felt it was worth it.
