Valery Frolov could pass for any Goan musician. The young Ukrainian in harem pants hops from venue to venue, playing ethnic fusion music in the bohemian cafes of Arambol. What sets him apart from other musicians is the UFO-shaped instrument he holds in his lap, a sound that mesmerizes visitors. When the music ends, they rise from their tables and rush over to Frolov to praise and explore the music they’ve just heard. “It’s astounding to them,” he says.
Invented in 2000, the handpan is an instrument that produces an unusual combination of drum-like rhythms and bell-like melodies. Arthur Fernandes, a music therapist from Pune, considers the sound of the handpan a “holistic medicine.” He argues that while all acoustic instruments can produce therapeutic sounds, the design of the handpan makes it even more special. “It’s shaped like a dome, so every time you hit it, it creates a resonance inside,” he explains. The resulting sound lasts longer and reverberates through the air. “It feels very soothing and peaceful,” he says. “People don’t realise what happens inside their body when they listen to it. But the way the oxygen, blood and electricity move stimulates the nervous system to release happy hormones.”
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Vaibhav Chaturvedi realised this when he started playing the djembe. As a chartered accountant studying in Noida, the instrument helped ease his exam anxiety. But it wasn’t until he discovered the handpan that he realised the “real power of music”. After finding it on YouTube, he started reading about it and stumbled across a community of around 20 people with handpans in India. In 2017, he jammed with them in Goa and his life has been changed ever since. “It was a totally different world. These people thought about music in a different way – as a way to reduce stress,” he says. “My mindset changed a lot. I stopped studying and am now a full-time instrumentalist.”
The Indian handpan community has grown over the years and now has over 100 members across India. They hold small meet-ups regularly in cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Bangalore and Hyderabad.
As a ritual, they all gather in Goa once a year for three days to jam, meditate, and bond over their instruments. “The handpan really appeals to non-musicians because you don’t need any training to play it,” Chaturvedi says. Because the note is already tuned to a scale, it’s impossible to get out of tune. “All you need is a connection, and you can play it however you want.”
The handpan’s ease of playing adds to its appeal. Another unique thing about the handpan is its frequency range, says Ashish Kasbe, a former music therapist at Mumbai’s Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital. Unlike traditional instruments, each note on the handpan has three frequencies. The second frequency is half as long as the first, the third is one-third the length of the first, and so on. “The brain works in frequencies and it likes structure,” Kasbe explains. “The handpan gives you a structured frequency, so your brain enjoys it and tells your body to release tension. Your muscles, blood pressure and heart rate relax, and you feel at ease.”
These features would make the handpan very saleable, if not for its price: a handpan costs more than 100,000 rupees (10 times the price of an acoustic guitar), a price that reflects the immense effort that goes into developing the instrument: handpans are shaped, hammered, and tuned by hand, and each piece can take up to a month to make.
When Mumbai-born composer Vikram Shastri discovered the handpan in 2012, there were only five manufacturers in the world making the instrument. High demand and limited supply meant that all manufacturers had long waiting lists spanning several years. What’s more, Shastri couldn’t afford to buy one in the first place. “It was so fascinating that I decided to make one myself,” he says. With a barrel, a metal plate, and some guides from the internet, he began teaching himself how to make the instrument from scratch. It took him seven years to master the craft, and today his company, Mantra Handpans, is one of four handpan manufacturers in India.
At the annual Goa Gathering (the last one was held in February 2021), he brings a variety of handpans for new members to try out. Each model has a unique scale, and each scale has its own unique characteristics. Generally, major scales are uplifting or positive, minor scales are intense or melancholic, and some scales in between sound mystical or exotic. These pre-tuned scales make the instrument appealing to non-musicians, but professional musicians sometimes disregard this. When playing with a handpan, instruments such as the guitar or piano need to be tuned to its tonality, and after a while the music can sound monotonous.
Frolov is undeterred by these limitations; he gets around them by playing several handpans simultaneously, creating artful combinations of sounds. As he sees it, the handpan’s appeal lies not in its spirituality, but in its novelty. “It’s a new sound, a new vibration,” he says. People who hear it for the first time find it unreal, call it a “magic sound.” But I listen to it every day, and now it’s as normal for me as a guitar.”
Finding a venue to play is easy in Goa—”Find a restaurant, talk to the manager for 10 minutes, and you’re there,” he says. He plays three nights a week with his band, the Heartbeats Collective, and every now and again, a visitor discovers a magical sound.
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