It seldom happens, that different versions of the hang are together in one place at the same time. A few days ago such a rare moment took place when I visited PANArt in Bern and found a lonely 2006 built hang among the crowd of 2007 built instruments in the Hanghaus. Having my first generation hang with me I used the golden opportunity to take a picture of almost the whole hang family.
In the front row on the right you see one of the great-grandparents of the hang, the ghatam. On the left the grandfather sat down: The prototype hang built in the early 2000.
In the second row today’s used hanghang are presented. On the right a first generation hang built in 2005, in the middle a second generation hang from 2006 with it’s upper surface of annealed brass and the new ring of brass around the circumference and on the left the newest 2007 built hang with the modified, diagonal placement of the tone fields which causes yet another sound improvement.
Here the three children of the hang family are shown in a line. From left to right: 2007 – 2006 – 2005.
thank you
Hey, i a percussionist, who absolutely loves the hang, and im interested in how the prototype hang might sound, think you might post a video of it sometime?
Here is a video I found on YouTube today : http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=wkiiJGIGGtI
The prototype doesn’t sound very well when you compare it with the developed Hang. It was a spontaniously built first idea put together in January 2000.
does the scale in which the new 2008 Integral Hang comes in have a particular origin? Is it one previously used in other generations?
Hi Ranganatha,
the scale of the Integral Hang has no ethnomusical origin. The Hang makers understand the tones of the second generation and Integral Hang not as a scale but as a sound model centered to the D. If we understand the D as basis we can say, all of the notes belong to the D minor scale. The sound model used for the Integral Hang was also used for some Hanghang of the second generation. More about Hang sound models you can find here.