Aelo Handpan D Celtic Minor / Amara | stainless steel

The Aelo Handpan is characterized by a warm and long-lasting sound .
Due to the perfectly balanced reverberation and the balanced vibration development , the Aelo Handpan is the perfect combination of percussion and melody instrument . Even a light touch produces fine and distinct sounds. This ensures an expressive and detailed sound performance.

The AeloPans are ideal for both beginners and professional handpan musicians . Their above-average sound volume also makes them particularly suitable for making music in large rooms or outdoors in nature and public spaces.

Fascinating sound patterns can be created with the particularly intuitive and easy-to-play Aelo Handpan . The soundscape ranges from simple to complex. The handpan player is offered inexhaustible possibilities; from more complicated rhythms and virtuoso melodies to touching chords and two-part melodies; the AeloPan can be combined in many different ways.

The uniquely soft, ethereal and mysterious sounds of the instrument quickly attract the listeners' attention. The calming sound takes you on an inner journey. The fascinating timbre of the Aelo Handpan is ideal for concerts, studio recordings, street music, as well as musical accompaniment for spiritual activities, e.g. yoga, sound therapy or meditation.

The high-quality material, rust-proof and corrosion-resistant stainless steel, gives the handpan its shine and elegant appearance. The material is robust and easy to clean. Due to the slightly higher material thickness compared to conventional stainless steel handpans, the AeloPans are more durable in terms of tuning stability and less susceptible to impacts and falls.

Like every handpan, the AeloPans consist of two assembled stainless steel shells that form the sound body. During the manufacturing process, the sound fields are laboriously worked by hand onto the curved surface and then precisely tuned. Since the process is manual, dents and bumps occur in the sound field - this is completely normal and is part of the visual character of a good handpan.

The Aelo handpan is professional and perfectly tuned. It impresses with its quality and sound at the highest level. The handpan has an optimal and well-balanced resonance vibration across all tones. There are no annoying metallic sounds when playing. The tone is warm and powerful. The reverberation of the individual tones is further enhanced by the solid stainless steel.

Diameter: 53 cm
Height: 26cm
Weight: approx. 4kg
Material: stainless steel

Tuning: Celtic Minor
Synonym: Amara
Standard tone sequence: D/ ACDEFGAC
Atmosphere: Melancholic - Archaic - Medieval
Mode: Minor - Aeolian
Tone range: Hexatonic

Semitones: 7 -3-2-2-1-2-2-3

Tonal Center: DING

Mood description:

With this timeless selection of tones (Amara) you can easily conjure up sounds that are reminiscent of times gone by with pure fifths and fourths. This instrument might have found its place in spiritual ceremonies in Celtic times. Compared to the full Aeolian mode, the sixth step is missing here, which makes this tuning a little more open. You can play very beautiful harmonies, especially in the upper range. This is one of the most popular tunings in the world of handpans.

Characteristic of Amara/Celtic Minor is the jump from DING to the first note in the interval of a perfect fifth (example DA). This fifth jump immediately opens up the tonal space and gives context to the notes above it. The next note is a minor third above the fifth, which in turn is reminiscent of the natural tone series. From here there are two whole tone steps, a half tone step, two whole tone steps and the jump of the minor third to the highest note of the tuning, which results from the absence of the sixth degree (example D Celtic Minor: note Bb).

This tuning sounds particularly archaic because it allows the playability of many pure intervals (fifth, fourth, octave) that were already used in the Middle Ages.

Another special feature arises from the arrangement of the notes: In the example of D Celtic Minor, the notes on the right side form the triad of the fundamental note, in this case D minor (ADFA). On the left side, however, all the notes of the major triad are one note below the fundamental note, i.e. C major (CEGC). When playing harmoniously, the sound impression of major can easily be reproduced. It is not for nothing that this is probably the most common handpan tuning.

Possible tone sequences:

Sequence with 9 notes: D/ ACDEFGAC
Sequence of 10 notes: D/ ACDEFGACD (as in the 2nd video)

Sequence of 11 notes:
Option 1: D/ (FG) ACDEFGAC
Option 2: D/ACDEFGAC (DE)

Sequence of 12 notes:
Option 1: D/ (FG) ACDEFGACD
Option 2: D/ ACDEFGACD (EF)

Sequence with 13 notes:
Option 1: D/ (FG)ACDEFGAC (DE)
Option 2: D/ (FG) ACDEFGACD (E)

Sequence of 14 notes:
Option 1: D/ (FG) ACDEFGACD (EF)
Option 2: D/ (FG) ACDEFGACDE (F)

Sequence of 15 notes:
Option 1: D/(FG)ACDEFGACD (EFG)

Sequence of 16 notes:
Option 1: D/(FG)ACDEFGACD (EFGA) (as in the first video)
Option 2: D/ ( FG) ACDEFGACDE (FGA）

Sequence with 17 notes:
Option 1: D/ (EFG) ACDEFGACD (EFGA)
Option 2: D/ (EFG) ACDEFGACDE (FGA)

* Bottom notes are additional tone fields on the bottom of the handpan and are written in round brackets e.g. (DE).

Mutant handpans have additional notes on the upper shell in the second row - between the chorus and the root note. Mutant notes are written in curly brackets, e.g. {DE}.

→ You can read a detailed article about Mutant & Bottom Note Handpans here: Blog post

→ Discover our full range of Mutant & Bottom Note Handpans here

We only list the standard layouts under "Possible note sequences". On request, our handpans can also be made with other notes and in other arrangements. Simply write an email with your request to: service@handpan.world

Suitable moods:

Very suitable for collaborative, improvisational playing:

• F Major (Parallel Tuning)
• F Sabye (parallel tuning)
• E Aeolian
• A Celtic Minor / Amara
• D Kurd
• G Ragadesh

Also good for composing together:

• B Celtic Minor / Amara
• C Aegean
• E Celtic Minor
• E Kurd
• C Celtic Minor / Amara
• C Kurd
• G Sabye