The history of the Handpan

In the 2000, in Switzerland, a new musical instrument called Hang comes to life by the company PANart Hangbau AG, composed of the Felix Rohner and Sabina Schärer, which in the 90’ already produced steelpan and ethnical drums of different parts of the world.

The Hang, which in Berna dialect means “hand”, consists in two metal half shells glued together. On the top, in the center, there is a main tone in the form of a convex circle called “ding”, surrounded by other eight tones shaped in concave circles named “dimples”, all together forming a special musical scale.

The bottom is smooth with an opening in the center, the “gu”, which allows the sound to comes out. The Hang is made of hardened steel with a diameter of 53 cm and the height of 24 cm. 

Over the years there have been at least three generations of Hang, bringing several differences compared to the first model.

In 2001 the PANart presented the first model of that creation at the musical fest of Frankfurt and was a real success. 

The result was a growing and significant interest for that instrument, inspiring new makers from all over the world to develop alternative instruments closed to the concept of the Hang. From here the generic use of the term “handpan”, which appear for the very first time in 2007 on the website of Pantheon Steel, an American steelpan maker, becoming

then an handpan producer.

Today exist a large number of makers in many parts of the worlds and any handpan has his own features, with important distinctions in terms of manufacturing, sound, material, quality and shape.