Tonight I was innocently watching some Imogen Heap vlog videos (which you should watch if you want to be delighted by a kooky creative!) when in the first :50 of this video, she pulls out a big thing that looks like a steel drum. But when she started tinkling around on it…I was charmed! Check it out, then keep reading…
The hang is a newly created instrument (born in 2000), a riff on the steel drum, but played with the hand. It was created by Felix Rohner and Sabina Schaerer in Bern, Switzerland. GORGEOUS sound and just hearing the tones of it reminds me of the sound of a big crystal bowl but with more warmth. Here’s a musician playing a beautiful little tune on it…
Of course I started to google it and was disappointed to find out that there is currently only one manufacturer of the Hang in the world, the aforementioned folks at PANART in Switzerland, and there’s a waiting list (and you have to send them a LETTER or fax to get on the waiting list. And there have been times when the artists just plain STOP production. And in order to get one, you have to GO there, because they want the player to find a drum to match them (I love this idea). So what about secondhand market? There are only around 5000 hang in existence, and a used hang can go for between $6-10K.
As you can imagine, such a high demand for an item will create a marketplace, and a few years ago an American company, Pantheon Steel started making a hang drum, which they call the “handpan.” They say that they are not imitating the original, but have developed upon it and thus made their own creation. Some people love it but some think it’s a poor imitation of the original. I read the specs on the Pantheon “creators” and neither of them are musicians. Wonder if they developed it from a scientific rather than musical perspective.
Just for fun, here’s a video of a guy who made a handpan out of a PROPANE TANK. It makes a lovely little tinkle, I think!
Want to play a hang online? Try out the e-hang (nowhere near the real thing, obviously), but fun to hear the sounds (the sound made by hitting the underside, even electronically, really resonates in my body!)
Hangfan.co.uk is an extremely thorough resource for the hang, if you want to find out more!
