New PANArt Instrument - The Hang Gede

At time of writing this post we checked the two largest Facebook groups for any chatter of PANArt having launched a new member of their Pang-made "new-Hang" family of instruments, and found none. Are Handpan-folk yet unaware of its existence, is this thing just so unspectacular that nobody is really interested in it, or have PANArt finally achieved their wish of completely separating themselves from the Handpan-movement that they themselves spawned with the creation of the Hang, and have now become, irrelevant to it?

The Hang Gede

The latest addition to the Hang-family of instruments is the, “Gede”.  In appearance it is not dissimilar to the Hang Gudu, and the Hang Urgu (all three of which can be seen together in the video below). And while to begin with, on its own, it does sound to be fairly unimpressive - when partnered with its siblings, there is definitely something of interest going on there.  But whether it’s $200 worth of interesting, is a different question altogether…

‘The Hang Gede® is prestressed and tuned by hand. The ringding has the partial tones Bb4, Eb5 and F5. The frequency of the air resonance in its cavity is 185 Hertz (Gb3). This pitch can be lowered by up to one octave by hand.’ - from the PANArt website.

For those who aren’t aware, PANArt have been moving varying degrees of away from the traditional Handpan-style of instrument that they invented (with the aid of Reto Weber) for a good few years now, rejoining the path they were treading before the Hang exploded all over the internet, to continue to create an almost Gamelan-like family of instruments.  And the Gede fits firmly within that concept. Alone, it is an instrument (or Sound-sculpture if you prefer) that is easy to dismiss.  And even as part of the ensemble, it is never going to take centre-stage.  But then, the Gede was likely never intended to. This isn’t some "Diva" like the original Hang, running amok all over the internet causing havok - to the point where its makers all but disowned it., The Gede, like the remainder of the Pang tribe of instruments, has strong family values.  Sounding better as one of many, than alone.

And for those unfamiliar with the Pang instruments of PANArt, we always recommend (in addition to visiting the official website) checking out the Gu’ Band. Who, as can be seen in the (very) brief teaser video below, appear to have once again gotten early access to yet another of PANArt’s newest creations…

You can find more information on the Hang Gede over at PANArt’s website: HERE