Handpan is a term for a group of musical instruments resulting from a growing worldwide interest in the Hang, an instrument invented and built by the company PANArt Hangbau AG.

History

This expression first appeared in the fall of 2007 on the website of an American steelpan producer Pantheon Steel. It was used to describe its own development of a new instrument which was launched as an alternative to the Hang.^[1]

Consequently, this term found its way into discussions in the defunct Hang-Music Forum on the Internet.^[2] The successor of this forum was founded in 2009 and was called handpan.org.^[3] The expression handpan found wide circulation especially in the context of this forum.

Instruments

Early instruments which are generally included by the term handpan were Caisa (2007), BElls (2009), Halo (2009), Spacedrum (2009) and Harmonic (2014). In the next years others followed. Today a lot of handpan builders are offering instruments with widely differing quality on the handpan market. ^[4]

Discussion about the term

The term handpan is controversial. Critics point out that the Hang, which all makers of handpans use as a standard model, is essentially defined through its difference to the steelpan. Furthermore, the term pan is used for the national culture of the steel bands in Trinidad and Tobago, to which neither the Hang nor the instruments called handpans bear any relationship. Supporters stress the necessity of a generic term. They advocate that handpan is a suitable and well-understood new term for the abbreviation of a steelpan played by hand. It has become a conventionalized expression among those who are interested in these kinds of instruments and there is no better alternative in sight.^[5]

The Hang makers of PANArt, Felix Rohner and Sabina Schärer, reject the expression handpan to describe the Hang. "To state it clearly and precisely: we do not make percussion instruments, handpans or hang drums."^[6]