The Caribbean islands of Trinidad and Tobago took an everyday, insignificant oil barrel and made extraordinary music come from it.

Then pianist Liberace asked the Trinidad Tripoli Steelband to tour with him in the 1960s.

Like the oil barrel, the Trinidad Tripoli Steelband was seen as more than ordinary.

The band will perform Sunday on the Main Stage of the Lakeside Music and Arts Festival.

A family group, the Trinidad Tripoli Steelband is composed of Hugh Borde, who took over the band in 1951 at age 18, and his sons Carlton and Emile Borde.

The band performs traditional calypso and reggae, soca (a mixture of soul and calypso) as well as classical music and rock 'n' roll on steel pans.

"The instrument is the shocking thing," Hugh Borde said. "People can't believe the sound that can come from (oil barrels)."

Borde said he took over the steel band, formed in 1942, when it was on the verge of success. The band, formerly known as the Esso Trinidad Steel Band and the Tripoli Steel Band, become a major competitor in steel band competitions. In 1964, it won the first official Steel Band Music Festival in Trinidad and Tobago, and it performed as a major attraction at Montreal's Expo 67 for 18 months.

Their performances at the Montreal world's fair caught the attention of Liberace, who asked the Trinidad Tripoli Steelband to tour for two years with him.

"I thought he was making a joke," Borde recalled.

Borde said they traveled to 46 states to perform as the opening act for Liberace. They've performed for U.S. presidents and for the Queen of England, he said, and they won a Grammy Award in 1972 for "Liberace Presents," an album they worked on with the pianist.

"Liberace was the most fantastic person we ever met," he said.

"What struck me the most about Liberace is that he would stay in his dressing room after a show ¦ and would sign autographs until four in the morning. He would sign them all," he said. "No one's in the class of Liberace."

When they pianist died in 1987, Borde said, "It was a great loss for us."

Many of the band's members returned to Trinidad and Tobago following Liberace's death, but he decided to stay in the United States.

"This type of music needs exposure," he said. "I thought it would be a better thing for me to stay here."

The steel band performed at Decatur Celebration in 2003 and continues to tour worldwide nine months out of the year, having played more than 325 colleges and universities.

Borde hopes to educate individuals on the legacy of the Trinidad Tripoli Steelband. He is writing a biography, with the help of his sons, that will include the band's history and successes.

"People don't realize what the steel band went through in the early times," he said. "There's so much to tell."

WHAT: Trinidad Tripoli Steelband.

WHEN: 11:10 a.m. and 1:05 p.m., Sunday

WHERE: Main Stage, Lake Decatur.

COST: Free.

ON THE WEB: www.myspace.com/trinidadtripoli

Alicia Spates can be reached at aspates@herald-review.com or 421-6986.