Getting the Hang of
SHAURYA SINGH THAPA
‘the Hang’
A Unique Drum and its Drummer
In 2000, a new millennium
was born as well as a unique
music instrument called the
Hang. It was a drum that was
played by hand, placed on
the player’s lap. The people
behind its creation were two
individuals from Switzerland,
Felix Rohner and Sabina
Scharer. After introducing
this percussive instrument
in a German trade fair in the
next year, the Hang began to
draw quite some attention.
In terms of anatomy, the Hang
comprises of two metallic shells
glued to each other in a concave
fashion, wit the inside of the
instrument being hollow. The
creators have acknowledged
the fact that steel drums from
various countries Trinidad and
Tobago, and India, have been a
large influence on the Hang, but
it differs from its predecessors
in terms of sound. The Hang has
buttery, raindrop-like sounds,
rather than metallic notes.
‘The Hang in its original
form was of Swiss origin but
the company building it has
stopped production. There are
other variants but the Hang
or the handpan is virtually
an extinct instrument.’,
says Delhi-based handpan
player Ashim Bery.
Bery is referencing to Felix
and Sabina’s company PANArt
Hangbau AG, which announced
in 2013 that they wouldn’t be
making any more specimens of
Hang, as they are focusing on
other sound and instruments.
The handpan is extremely
similar to the Hang. For
laypersons, the handpan
can be described as the non-
patented Hang. Production of
handpan is being taken over
to India too recently. Bery
remarks that some of his
fellow musicians have been
making their own handpans.
An already-trained tabla
player, Bery got introduced to
the handpan through another
vaguely similar instrument
called the steel tongue drum.
It was on a Goa beach in 2016
when he saw a man playing
the same. This introduced him
to a new world of percussion.
‘The steel tongue drum on the
surface might look similar
to the handpan but its sound
is too metallic. The handpan
on the other hand, has a
wavy, more resonant sound.’
Bery explains the differences
between the two instruments.
Studying tones and sounds
in metallic drums, he finally
picked up the instrument in
2018. He has been ‘playing
around with it’ ever since.
Bery is one of the rare few
proponents of the drum in
India, a country where we
aren’t totally aware of even the
sound of a handpan or the Hang.
Bery laughs at this, describing
how his audiences are charmed
as his fingers tap the notes of
the handpan. ‘It is really hard
to explain the tonality of the
instrument in a simple manner.
People are quite amused
when they see me playing this
ulta tawa (inverted pan)!’.
As he continues to play
and promote the handpan,
Ashim Bery doesn’t stick
to the instrument for just
music. He tries to explore the
handpan’s rhythmic influence
further by collaborating with
dancers and theatre artists
too. Having already dropped
an instrumental album called
Kalkaji to Khirkee-The First
Draft, he’s working on an EP
where he’s planning to combine
the handpan’s sound with other
varied elements and influences
like violin or electronic music.
The
Score Magazine
highonscore.com
33