As a veteran steelpan enthusiast (23 years), it is disheartening to say the least, that there is apparently a Handpan Mafia in existence which collectively, whether willfully or not, has conspired to remove the handpan from the traditional steelpan family of which it is a descendant. In the process, they have essentially on the whole, emerged from out of the shadows and have now basically cornered the handpan market. They simultaneously charge exorbitant, over-inflated prices for instruments which only maintain their over-inflated valuation due to an essentially uninformed, easily led, and non-musically oriented buyers market.
Allow me to expand.
The handpan is an instrument that has a wide appeal on a viral level due to its inherent simplicity musically speaking. In terms of the actual playing of notes, with 8-9 notes tuned in one lonely scale, it is nearly impossible to hit a wrong note with most handpan tunings. Percussion and finger techniques aside, virtually anyone with no musical background can play a handpan and make relatively decent music, which in turn, allows handpan players to present themselves as musicians fairly easily.
The handpan's user-friendly nature is one of the great keys to the handpan's wide appeal and strong demand. The other great key being the mellow sound, which is a distinct steelpan sound.
In the previous blog post, I noted how it is easier for a traditional steelpan tuner to tune a handpan than it is for a traditional handpan tuner to tune a traditional steelpan. The same can be said with regard to players of traditional steelpans and players of handpans.
A traditional pannist with no prior knowledge of the handpan will be able to play a handpan more effectively than a handpan player who attempts to play a traditional steelpan with no prior knowledge of the steelpan. This is due to the fact that traditional steelpans are generally chromatic instruments with some, like the tenors and double seconds, double tenor and quadrophonics, containing more than 3 full octaves.
As the level of playing difficulty varies so immensely between traditional steelpans and handpans, traditional steelpans are usually not appealing to handpan enthusiasts simply due to the fact that the user-friendly nature of the handpan is not present in the traditional steelpan per say. While it may take a new handpan player a few months to become proficient in playing the handpan, it generally takes at least a few years for a new traditional pannist to become proficient with the instrument
Additionally, on the flip side of the coin, handpans are of little to no interest to traditional steelpan enthusiasts, many of whom consider the handpan a ''boring'' instrument due to its severe limitations musically speaking.
Therefore it is evident, that these two markets rarely intersect for these reasons.
It is safe to say that many of first time handpan owners or expectant owners have little to no musical background. Unlike most buyers of traditional steelpans, who most likely already know how to play the pan and have a musical background before they purchase one. Many traditional steelpan buyers already play the instrument in a band, but would like to own their own instrument.
The handpan basically allows a musical novice to present him or herself as a musician without the years of training that usually is required to play a chromatic instrument such as a traditional steelpan, while at the same time ''passing'', if I may call it that, as a ''decent'' musician.
It is precisely here that the Handpan Mafia has realized a golden opportunity and has undoubtedly seized upon it.
The first step in the Handpan Mafia's consolidation and cornerning of the market, especially at the high-end, was and is the continuing implication that the handpan is somehow a unique instrument. It is certainly not. The distinction of being a unique musical instrument DOES belong to the traditional steelpan however!
This is evident to me on a near daily basis, as the many people who see me play pan ask me if I am playing a ''hang''! So it is quite clear to me that in some parts of the world at least, many people do not even know of the traditional steelpan, but are aware of the handpan.
As far as we at KaribPAN are concerned, it is the duty of every handpan maker to acknowledge the Caribbean origin of the handpan instrument, instead of marketing it as a unique Swiss (European) invention by implication or otherwise. I may also point out that no members of the Handpan Mafia are from the Caribbean, neither do they have Caribbean backgrounds. In sum, this makes them cultural misappropriators at the very least.
The second tactic the Handpan Mafia uses is the patenting of names related to the steelpan, which lends further credibility to the lie whether by implication, intention or both, that the handpan is a unique invention!
Thirdly, online discussion forums for handpan enthusiasts are operated and funded by this Handpan Mafia to highlight other Handpan Mafia affiliated outifits while virtually blacklisting or censoring discussions about their competition on the Mafia-owned forums. Competition which consists of basically more than 90% of the other handpan makers on the market. This Handpan Mafia is even content to refer to themselves as a ''Family'' of all things, while all other makers who are not aligned with them are outsiders or non-''Family'' by default.
The mean spirited, selfish nature of this behavior of the Handpan Mafia is quite obvious to anyone who loves the steelpan and engages in the business of pan out of pure love for the instrument. These malicious tactics only serve to segregate, and ultimately isolate the handpan into a classification of its own, which is the Handpan Mafia's desired result. Unfortunately for them however, they can never ultimately succeed in transforming the handpan into a ''unique'' instrument because they cannot rewrite history at this early stage in the life of steelpan. Steel pan has not even reached its 100th year of existence, so it is still a relatively modern instrument whose history is still being written to this day by the thousands of traditional pannists today who keep the steelpan tradition and culture alive, as well as new handpan players currently discovering the instrument!
Undoubtedly however, the ''new'' culture of the handpan community is radically different than the culture that historically emanates from the traditional steelpan community, which brings me to my next post where we will compare and contrast the culture of the Handpan and the culture of the traditional steelpan!
Maybe I will post more about this phenomenon of the Handpan Mafia at a later date. However, this literal corruption, misrepresentation and misappropriation in the industry has encouraged my partners and I to offer very reasonably priced, high quality options on the market.
At KaribPAN we pride ourselves in conductingthe business of pan in a socially responsible and ETHICAL manner.
Victor Levinson,
In keeping with the philosophy of KaribPAN, which is to conduct the business of pan in a socially responsible, ethical manner, I will not delete your post as even though I see you are trying hard to take your TROLLING game down a notch, the readers can benefit from an uncensored discussion on this matter. This uncensored discussion is not taking place anywhere else on the net so I will accept my social responsibility and take the time out to continue to edify the readers so that they may gain a perspective with higher clarity.
To answer you claim that i think it is ‘’all about the steelpan’’, I am glad you have finally been showing some signs you are paying attention because that that is what this blog post was all about essentially, the fact that the handpan IS a steelpan!
As far as the individual wearing gloved in my video, I sold that Bb minor pan for €1050 w/ fedex intl priority shipping to a buyer who left me 100% positive feedback!
http://www.ebay.de/usr/pan0ramic?_trksid=p2047675.l2559
there is the proof so as I said before, at KaribPAN we offer our customers VALUE for money and have a 100% customer satisfaction rate.
I am still waiting to see proof of your ’’thousands’’ of satisfied customers, Victor. Where is the BEEF?
The fact that the individual in that video wore gloves has nothing to do with the point you are trying to make about that instrument only sounding good with gloves, which is again, UNTRUE! playing an instrument with gloves DAMPENS the sound! I would go into more detail about exactly WHY that individual was wearing gloves, but at this point, that info is neither here nor there in light of the fact that the instrument was SOLD at a VERY REASONABLE PRICE to a buyer who left 100% positive feedback!
take up your gripe with our satisfied customers, not with us! better yet, use your energy to promote your self proclaimed ’’masterpieces’’ on your own blog and your own website and then convince other people the same thing you wish to convince me and my readers of!
If you choose to ‘’expand endlessly on the technical details’’ be my guest! You have an open platform here as long as you do not continue to abuse it!
People are not obligated by default to pay homage to anything I guess. Not all the people are even conscious of the roots of the handpan, as many people are not conscious about the roots of any other kind of instrument. This is not being elitist, but being realistic. You assume that everybody in the handpan community should homage the steel pan creators, but it’s not that immediate. The same it could be for any other instrument, or genre of music or whatever. Also, handpans sound of course different from a steel pan, and it’s not that obvious that a handpan player can appreciate the steel pan sound (and I’m saying this as a steel pan appreciator). Second, I’m not saying that the handpan community is THE MOST welcoming community. I’m just saying that until now, it has been such pleasure to be part of it, because I feel I’ve met true friends, I feel we can support each other, as I’ve written, and that it’s a welcoming community. This is really different from saying “I think there is no better community”. So please read carefully before answering. Third, your point of view, is of course as any other’s point of view, BIASED and SUBJECTIVE (since you love caps lock..) on the other hand. No one can ever have a full prospective of anything, it’s arrogant to think so, don’t you agree? I’m just sharing the way I feel the community and saying to you that your words come from a lack of informations about the handpan world. And, by the way, it’s true that the instrument itself it’s based on a scale, but many of us play with a chromatic set. Just sayin’. Cheers
ok, only because i dont want to waste my time with you deleting my messages, here is the link, though i do hope you will do what i ask and you will open commenting sections under you videos for your own growth.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/PantamSPB/
your biggest problem though is that you think it’s all steelpan
in the same manner you could call it all gamelan, see my point?
there is a very big chasm between instruments designed to be played by mallets and the ones that are made to be played by hand!
the proove for that are your own videos, where to make “nice” sounds from your “handpan” you had to wear gloves.
i could expand endlessly in technical details of what is not right and why it is different. but i am not sure that with the kind of attitude you have this really interests you. though i do have hope it does, maybe it does at least interest your man with the hammer.
Victor Levinson,
If you do not get back on track, I will be forced to moderate your comments as you have demonstrated on multiple occasions that you are TROLLING and attempting to derail this discussion. YOu have consistently made unsubtantiated claims and up to this very moment, instead of answering my challenge to provide your evidence, you continue to challenge me in a hostile manner. This is your final warning, as I have already given you a platform to express your points and you are abusing that privilege.