Sunday, August 30, 2009

Hang (Drums)

You ever hear of a hang (drum)? Until recently, I had not. It's a very cool sounding musical instrument (or sound sculpture as the creators like to label it) that was created by a couple of Swiss at the beginning of the millennium. It resembles a steel drum in sound but is portable, resembling a UFO in appearance almost. Some folk just call it a hang. It seems like a drum to me.

I came across it when XPN did a feature on Philadelphia hang player, Dante Bucci. Since then, I've checked out some other hang players but I haven't found anyone who sounds half as good as he does. Most of the other players I heard have that New Age sound to them - just sort of random pleasing sounds. Bucci actually composes some nice tunes with catchy phrasings that stick with you and he lets the resonance of the instrument make it sound like there are multiple overlapping parts. Here's video of him playing his song Reminiscence:

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