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.
Dear Todd,
please stay tuned for an answer to your comments in the next blog post entitled,
‘’When It Comes To Handpans, EVERYONE is an Expert!’’
Dear Mr. Anonymous Karibpan Maker,
First, the assumption of a “mafia” implies an organized structure that controls things. There are a number of makers, but in no way do they act cohesively (which is probably for the best) In the end, those in the market, potential buyers, make decisions about which makers and instruments are the best. It is far more a case of “bottom up” decisions from players and buyers, rather than a “top down” imposition from the makers.
Second, pointing to a 100% satisfaction rating clearly ignores those who have chosen not to buy an instrument because they deem it of poor quality. And there are clearly far better informed segments of the community that the ebay market. While some members of the community have their preferences, and in some cases biases, I trust the collective wisdom and knowledge far, far more than a maker who comes across as wronged, and lashes out at huge swaths of the community in an effort to “correct” these perceived wrongs.
Third, for someone who states a desire to behave ethically and diplomatically, you are angering and insulting a huge number of people.
Fourth, and perhaps most significantly, you demonstrate a profound ignorance of the community (of which you claim to be so well informed about that you can pass sweeping judgments on) by not only rejecting the very kindly offered help of Victor Levinson, but by repeatedly insulting him as well. The great irony here is that he is probably one of the five people IN THE WORLD who has vast knowledge and experience that could GREATLY assist and propel you in your journey to making high-quality instruments.
I could certainly say more, but I am guessing that the response will be that I am a TROLL because I don’t agree with you, or that I have to present “proper credentials” to even post an opinion here.
So, I’ll leave it at that.
Dear Sander,
thank you for your seemingly heartfelt and genuine comment. I will consider your suggestions.
Dear HandPan Lover,
Please slow down, you are moving way too fast!
For the sake of the readers here, many of whom I am sure are soaking in this discussion, I will take yet more time to prove that you have made assumption after assumption and are putting forth illogical arguments in attempt to validate your negative, false accusations against us.
1. You ASSUME that your posts have been censored? Which posts of yours were censored if I may ask as it is quite evident that you have thus far have around 10 posts on here all of which are negatively charged and pointed at the direction of KaribPan!?
Overnight I held up all of the new comments for moderation until this morning, when I APPROVED every comment this morning!
Sorry for the delay since I know many live in a world of immediate gratification, but in reality, the good things take time. Ultimately, your comments were cleared and now you have provided me yet another golden opportunity to edify the readers and display INTEGRITY by standing by my words.
2. You FALSELY CLAIM that have a high customer satisfaction rate does not make one a ‘’good handpan maker’’..
I would rest my case here, but for the readers it is important that I completely expose you and your agenda to tarnish our name.
If have a 100% (PERFECT) customer satisfaction rate does not make one a good handpan maker in a business sense, then what DOES exactly!
This is exactly the type of idiocy that I am dealing with here with comments like these based on pure emotion and hate.
You expect the reasonable readers here to just buy into your fallacious arguments which completely fly in the face of reason and logic! It is only for the sake of the community when I entertain such childish rants such as yours in order that they may learn.
You made a comparison between having a high customer satisfaction rate as a handpan maker and Selena Gomez (at the top of the pop charts) being a better musician (or not) than Radiohead?!
Handpan Lover, it is quite clear you are all over the place!
Selena Gomez is a pop tart artist on the pop charts, charts which are for pop tarts just like her! Radiohead is the same, just on an ’’underground’’ level!
Arists on the pop charts are bankrolled through payola by another mafia, The Music Industry Mafia, and not unlike the Handpan Mafia, they put a stranglehold on the business and squeeze out the non- Maifa affiliated competition while raising prices!
Its no wonder they are dying out presently, just like this HandPan mafia will eventually fade to black once more quality handpans like the ones made by KaribPAN are sold for 25%of the cost of Handpan Mafia outfits.
Radio Head is the same thing. The music business is tightly controlled from the top down, like virtually every other industry. There is no group on millions of peoples# radar INCLUDING radiohead, that has risen to fame through organic, grassroots efforts. There is Mafia money backing every musician and group that has millions of fans in the pop genre or any other genre.
This is well documented so if you want more information on this subject, you are going to have to do your research.
YOu are actually proving my point as you have a knack for doing amazingly, since
I could continue to go in so many directions with these illogical arguments of yours, but I will just go in one more right now.
In comparing handpan makers with a 100% customer satisfaction rate to Selena Gomez vs. RadioHead and who is a better miusical act, it is obvious you are operating from entirely SUBJECTIVE standpoint as I have said all along.
If someone is a fan of Selena Gomez as opposed to RadioHEad or vice versa, that does not make either one a better musical act. Essentially, when it comes to musical preference among individuals, this is one of the most SUBJECTIVE things you can think of!
On a deeper level, again you are proving my point because BOTH selena gomez AND radiohead are bankrolled and forced on the masses by the Music Industry Mafia. In the SAME MANNER, the Handpan Mafia bankrolls and forces their creations on the handpan community and convinces the masses that their Mafia produced handpans are at THE TOP OF THE HANDPAN CHARTS!
You should take all of Victors advice, he is by far one of the best handpan/pantam makers around, and yes he does have over 1000 people wanting an SPB, and I am very pleased to own and play one daily.
You are obviously having trouble adapting to making handpans and that frustration is coming out via your posts. You have plenty of room to flourish if you could set the history lessons/conspiracies aside and realize that handpans are different and take a little different approach.
I have owned a steel pan and I did not enjoy the sound at all. The fact that it was not tuned to a scale did not bother me at all since I have played guitar for years, it was just that “panny” sound that I did not agree with. I hope you find your way in the handpan world, but at this rate, you are burning all of your bridges.