If any HandPan player could stand up proudly and say, in a Frank Sinatra esque fashion, “I did it my way!”, ‘ Sungeun Jin’, could certainly count himself among them. As the Korean HandPan virtuoso who, whether wittingly, or unwittingly, has to date, very much gone against the grain in terms of what 95% of the players around at time of writing are putting out there...
Seemingly, you’re not likely to find a babbling brook, or a picturesque forest glade in sight at a Sungeun Jin performance, where instead, you are far more likely to find yourself dazzled with laser beam light shows, and wowed with a HandPan setup almost able to rival the legendary drum kits of Terry Bozzio, and the big kit drummers of his like. And for some, this move from spiritual, and serene, to epic stadium rock HandPan extravaganza, could be seen as quite refreshing.
Often found performing on a set-up of four-plus HandPan (primarily BEllArt BElls at time of writing) Sungeun appears to be making some fairly big waves in his home country of Korea, where he has been seen performing live on HandPan at the likes of Samsung promotional events, and other swag-looking occasions. And Sungeun Jin has stated that ‘I guess, I am the first Handpan player, and I really want people who lived in Korea to know how beautiful the sound of HandPan...’
Notable for his covers, Sungeun counts among his repertoire the theme song from Mission Impossible, as well as Yesterday, by the Beatles. And in many ways, the Sungeun Jin show as a whole has a sort of K-POP flavour running throughout it. And with that said, Sungeun can certainly play, performing on four pans simultaneously, and fluidly, something that is no easy feat for any of the world's most talented, and experienced of players. And Sungeun can truly make them sing.
