History of the Opsilon Handpan

As a child, Rafael created his fantasy-planet “Opsilon” in his vivid imagination.

The child grew up, travelled the whole world, became a great musician, composer and producer. And his inside continued dreaming. A vision formed, as complex as the life on his planet “Opsilon” back in the days: he envisioned a powerful sound that would touch every soul.

Driven by this vision, by finding this special sound, he started to experiment and learned over years how to transform raw metal into a finely tuned music instrument.

An instrument that would sound like the inner sound he was hearing and seeking.

Tracing back the roots of the handpan family, Rafael found inspiration in the oldest forms and ensembles of steel drum instruments, like the Tibetan Gong, the Gamalan from Indonesia and the steel drum from Trinidad Tobago. In the year 2000, the “father” of all handpan instruments called “Hang” was created in Switzerland. Rafael followed this genealogical line of modern rhythmic-melodic steel pans, reminiscing the variety of their older forms.

Years of investment and gaining experience followed with optimizing his craftsmanship, developing his technique and studying the physics of different materials to different treatments and conditions. A fusion of science and art was created.

With every hammer blow Rafael kept on searching for this special sound of inner peace until he found the sound he wanted to share with the world.

Opsilon Handpan was born.