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Hi,

last weekend we had a small "meeting" with members from the forum in my home.
One of them (Quitte) brought a Hapi to this meeting.
Before i had not the chance to hear and play this instrument in real.

My first optical impression was, that the Hapi is a accurate work. In relation to the dimension it is a heavy instrument.

The first surprise for me was the sound volume. I thought that the Hapi is much louder and that the loudness beats the loudness of a Hang and that this maybe makes it not so easy to play the Hapi and Hang together. I thought that the Hapi player must play very soft or the Hapi is to loud in relation.
But, far from it! If you play in the "range" where you hear the clear sound (without much percussion) on Hapi and Hang, the Hapi is less loud than the Hang. This was for me the first positive point.

In the foretime a few people state that the Hapi or other Tongue Drums have a similar sound and feeling as the Hang. This is for me a total nonsense!
But, (and this is important!). This instrument has realy an interesting sound and quality on one´s own.
Here I speak not so much from the percussion aspects. To play a "percussion style" on this instrument could make fun and it is a good intrument for this style. It is not so damageable as a Hang, because of the solid tongues. I think it goes not so easy out of tune, if you play it a little bit "harder" in a style you play other Hand percussion instruments.
At the weekend Quitte (Hapi) and Ixkeys (Hang) played together. On this session Ixkeys played the Hang with a "soft" playing style. Quitte also played the Hapi in a way, where you hear more the sound ringing notes and not so much the percussion sound aspect. (I mean the beat sound of the hands.)
It was an interesting sound and tone color in this "music" and pleasing to the ear.
The Hapi alone also makes a sound where i like a lot of aspects.
I speak in the foretime from "soundslobber" in context of some Hapi videos. I think the microphonic effect of the recording intensified these effect.
You can produce this "slobber" on the Hapi, if you play some notes together who dont work nice together (because of the harmonys) and let them ring free. Because of the long sustain of the notes and a few chaotic vibrations you have this effect.
But without amplifying on a recording (and in some videos maybe to much reverb effect) it is not very disturbing.

For me personally the Hapi make fun to play and listen.
I dont want to buy a Hapi, because I have enough instruments to play. If I see the pricing of some Tongue Drums I dont understand this point. To make this instrument is a handcraft and not a big art. If you follow the construction plan it is not so catchy and complicated to make such instruments. I dont say, that anybody can make a Tongue, but if you are a little bit handy with tools, you dont need years of experience to have a Hapi sound quality.
I think if anybody want to bring this instrument of an higher level and make experiments and research there is "room" and potential in this tongues.
In the case of the Hapi you have a high grade finish in relation to a lot of other self made tongues.

The Hapi has an "unique" sound with some nice aspects. It is an instrument with one´s own character. It is not a alternative for other instruments and this is very good.

If you like a Hapi sound and want to play a Hapi style it is a good instrument. It was fun for me to play on the instrument.

A Hapi is a Hapi. Not more and not less.

Greetings
Frank

There's nothing more to add.

It was really fun to play together with Ix while he played the IH.
I'm glad that I could erase some prejudice or first impressions manipulated by the internet.

Greets,
Quitte


p.s.
Unfortunately there's no video of Ix and me playing the Hapi and the IH...
We propably should have thought of that.
Well... there'll be a next time I guess.
(but maybe I'll bring my very own IH to this meeting )

Oh What a pity...
I saw the Hapi at the music fair this year. But sadly the stand was in the percussion Hall, and the drums arround the Hapi stand were far too loud. I tried to play, but I wasn't able to hear the sound.

I'm not very skilled on a computer so I cannot provide a link, but if you want to see/hear a second gen D Ding hang and a Dm HAPI together you can search for my myspace website and go to my videos. I play the two simultaneously.

Saggio

Is this the one Saggio?
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fusea ... D=43160046

There are a few HAPI recordings here:

http://www.quietamerican.org/hang/

I don't own the D Pygmy HAPI, but the recordings there are of one I played -- my mother bought it, after she heard and loved my Hang, in order to have something to play; she had it shipped to me to check out. I liked it.

HaPygmy is my first noodling on it, getting a feel for the instrument. All played by hand (not mallets) I think.

HAPI Tremelo is a demonstration on how you can get a good tremolo by playing with the sound port (it's "gu" ) if you play it on its side

HAPI lesson is the looooong "lesson" I recorded for my mom, introducing her to the instrument and some things to try -- she plays no instrument and I wanted to make her feel as comfortable as possible with it.

The "HAPI Scales" were simulations I made to see how the same pattern would sound on different tunings. Now there are plenty of good videos of the real thing so these are not helpful.

aaron

RP, thank you for posting the link. Yes, that is me.

my friend had a hapi and i brought a milltone stee tounge drum .... we played both for a while and then swapped .. we both agreed that the milltone was better in sound , but the hapi was far better in craftsmaship and overall look..

i am a owner of a halo minor pent 9 ..i also sent a letter to panart to wait to hear from them ... i have heard both and looked at a lot of ppl here aruging about whats better and what not ... and in my opinion .. its what " you " like ... thats all

i love my halo , i love the hang ... dont know what id prefer if i had ot choose lol but its all about building your inner bieng with these instruments !!! its just what u like