One of the most amazing things about music is the seemingly limitless ways we find to create it.  Musical instruments come in all shapes and sizes, and are constantly being invented and improved upon. This is especially true of percussion instruments.

The hang is one such, recent evolution. Similar in sound to the steel drum, the hang was invented around the beginning of this century by Felix Rohner and Sabina Schärer in Bern, Switzerland.

According to Wikipedia, the hang “is a musical instrument in the idiophone class. The instrument is constructed from two half-shells of deep drawn, nitrided steel sheet glued together at the rim leaving the inside hollow and creating a distinct ‘UFO shape’. The top (“Ding”) side has a center ‘note’ hammered into it and seven or eight ‘tone fields’ hammered around the center. The bottom (“Gu”) is a plain surface that has a rolled hole in the center with a tuned note that can be created when the rim is struck.”

If you like percussion music, you’ll enjoy this video. How could you not toss a few dollars into the pot for such a performance?

Learn more about the hang at http://www.hangblog.org.