David Aarons is an accomplished steelpan player from Jamaica and a PhD candidate in ethnomusicology at the University of Washington. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in music from the University of the West Indies (UWI), St Augustine, a Master of Music degree in steelpan performance from Northern Illinois University (NIU), and a Master of Arts degree in Ethnomusicology from the University of Washington.

While pursuing his degree in Trinidad, David simultaneously completed a certificate in steelpan building and tuning at Panland Trinidad and Tobago Instruments Ltd and has subsequently worked with a number of bands in Jamaica as a tuner. While at NIU, David was named a joint winner in the NIU Concerto Competition in 2010 for his performance of Liam Teague’s “A Visit to Hell.”

David has performed with a number of steelbands in the United States, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago. His research interests include the music of diasporic communities and return movements (specifically repatriated Rastafari in Ethiopia), as well as religious, community, and popular musics in the Caribbean.