If it feels like "Sam Maher Month" here at HPM, with this being the third near-consecutive post featuring him thus far. As far as we’re concerned - he’s earned it. Because while the saying “a rising tide lifts all boats” perhaps sounds a little opportunistic - traffic to this site has tripled over the last week or so, as a result of a recent video of Sam's shared over at Facebook having blown-up in a big way - racking up over five million views in just two weeks. And spreading rapidly. With over 150,000 shares. And over 50,000 likes (and counting). Spreading further still via platforms like Twitter. Introducing an army of new admirers to the sounds of UFO-shaped singing-steel.
And while we’ve probably all stumbled across YouTube videos with few views that were awesome, that we felt were deserving of more attention. In the instance of Sam Maher’s ‘New York Handpan 01’ (featured below), it’s clear that “the people” have chosen wisely. With it being one of the finest Handpan performances that a person could ever hope to witness.
Over at Sam’s Facebook page it suggests that he’s from Perth, Western Australia. Though it’s possible that that is just where he finds himself currently. A few years back we followed his travels around South America (with his Handpan) via his Facebook posts. And in addition to insane Handpan talents, Sam Maher is also a truly-inspirational travel-writer/blogger. And while we’d certainly encourage you to visit his Facebook page and skip back through his older posts if you’d like to grab a read of that - this podcast episode featuring Sam Maher over at MissionControl also makes for a very enjoyable listen. In which he also discusses the New York City busking-scene - as featured in the video in question…
What you don't hear in the video over at Facebook, that you do hear in the YouTube version above, is the ending. In which both Sam, and the guy from BUSKRS exclaim, "That's the one!". And you find yourself nodding firmly in agreement. We haven't heard it thrown around much in recent times, but in the earlier days of the Hang, the sound of the instrument was often described as being like a "Chorus of Angels", which we believe originated with Hang-maker, Felix Rohner, himself. And listening to Sam play, it is especially easy to imagine a Choir of Angels imbued within the steel, conducted and enticed to sing, by Sam Maher's dancing hands and fingers.
For those who are interested, the Handpan played by Sam Maher in the video above is a Terrapan brand of Handpan, made by U.S. makers, TerraTonz. And for comparison, below you can watch one of the first videos we ever stumbled across of Sam on Handpan, performing on an Innersound, in the middle of a Perth shoe-store, from back in 2013...
And catch his most recent video (at time of posting) below...
To get the latest from Sam Maher you can subscribe to his YouTube channel: HERE. Or follow him at Facebook: HERE
