Symphonic Steel Iskra - That First Generation Hang Sound Revisited?

While the trend in recent years has seemingly been to refine the sound of the Handpan into its most “perfect” form.  U.S. Handpan makers, Symphonic Steel, with their recent “Iskra” model - have set their sights upon revisiting the classic sound of the first generation PANArt-made Swiss Hang.  And "using material and tuning techniques that are very similar to those of the originators in Bern" - attempt to replicate its sound.

In the march towards perfection and refinement, the sounds of original Hang have come under some criticism in recent times - particularly earlier Hanghang - now that there are many other, newer, instruments to choose from.  But it’s certainly worth remembering that many veterans of the Handpan scene today were first enchanted by the sounds of PANArt’s earlier instruments.  And that arguably, no Handpan since, has come close to creating the near-rabid frenzy of passion, love, and need, that those early Hang did, when people first began to stumble upon them.

And returning to the newly introduced Iskra model of Handpan by Symhonic Steel, if that early Hang sound is something that you’ve been searching for, without the likely heftier price-tag of an original, Symphonic’s Iskra Handpan, do a good job (in our opinion) of capturing a similar mood, and emotive-edge...

Iskra, means “Spark”, in Slovak.  And these pans are named in reverence of the original creations of PANArt that inspired them - with even the Iskra logo having a similar roughly-etched quality to it - reminiscent in tribute of earlier Hang brandings.  

And before moving on to listen to more videos of Iskra Handpan in different tunings over at the Symphonic Steel YouTube channel (should you choose to do so) - having heard an Iskra in Pygmy tuning above, below you can listen to an original first generation Pygmy Hang for comparison...



You can find Iskra Handpan for sale over at Symphonic Steel's ETSY store HERE.  Or find their official website: HERE.