Halo

In addition to acoustic guitar, one of the other instruments that David plays is the Halo steel hand pan, manufactured by Pantheon Steel in Missouri, US.

A chance meeting on the street with musician Ravid Goldschmidt in Barcelona back in 2006 was the event which started David on a long journey to becoming a hand pan player. But before becoming a player, it was necessary to work out just how to become an owner of such an instrument…

Seeing and hearing Ravid’s original Hang Drum played for that first time inspired David to seek out the Hang Makers Felix Rohner and Sabina Schärer of Panart directly. Well-known for their pride and attention to detail regarding the manufacture of their sound sculptures and also for their love of traditional, non-electronic communication, it was with both delight and sadness to receive a handwritten reply letter from the factory in Bern stating that there would be many years to wait while the next steps for Panart were decided upon. No more Hang drums would be imminently available for purchase.

In short – the Hang trail went cold for David around the end of 2008, but his continued research into the burgeoning hand pan scene paid off, revealing that a company called Pantheon Steel were in the process of preparing for an initial manufacturing run of a steel hand pan. In their words the instrument would be a ‘marriage of art and technology’ – and would become known as the Halo.

The discovery was very timely indeed, with David joining a waiting list of only a couple of hundred similarly interested parties (as opposed to the tens of thousands today, necessitating a ‘lottery’ system for new models). The initial down-payment was made in early 2009, and after a two-year wait David became the proud owner of Halo serial number #156 – having selected the ‘Xiao Xiong Diao (XXD) scale for the instrument.

The notes of the XXD Scale Halo are:

(C) F G Ab C D Eb F G

Since then, David has recorded a 4-track EP already on the instrument (available in the Shop) and continues to write new compositions and collaborate with other musicians – please check this web site for the latest updates and/or sign up to David’s mailing list.

 

‘Glitch 156’ (Taken from the CD EP ‘Halo156’ (ASANACD002)

 

‘Amygdala (Part One)’ (with Chris Woods Groove)

 

Cover art images from the artwork for the ‘Halo 156’ CD

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