AYA Sounds E Celtic Minor / Amara | Embersteel

The power of the ocean and the east wind is in the Nami Handpans. These special musical instruments are born on the cliffs of an island in the Atlantic Ocean. Every instrument is created under the influence of the elements and in harmony with nature. The unison of the surging waves of the sea flow into the sound of these instruments as much as the whisper of the wind. The sounds of the Nami Handpans invite you to surf on them and melt into the melody. The sound of handpans promotes concentration, mental relaxation, strengthens the immune system and creates a wonderful feeling of joy and well-being.

The sea gives the sound artist Daniele new inspiration every day, which he incorporates when building the handpans.

The extremely long aftertaste entails an extreme wealth of overtones. These handpans are probably the instruments with the most sustain that we know. Due to the more pronounced crosstalking effects, the whole instrument seems to be singing along. This creates a versatile soundscape that is particularly inviting for slower, meditative games. This extremely mystical, spherical sound lets the player dive into other spheres and can lead to trance-like states. With the supplied handpan gloves, the sustain and the extreme richness of overtones can be weakened a little and also makes playing at medium speed possible.

The Nami handpans are made of both nitrided steel and ember steel of the highest quality. Custom-made special tunings or handpans with additional sound fields on the underside are possible after consultation with us.

Mood Name: Pygmy
Standard tone sequence: F/ G Ab C Eb FG Ab C
Atmosphere: Meditative - Introverted - Floating
Tonal center: DING
Mode: Aeolian minor
Pitch: Pentatonic

Semitones: 2-1-4-3-2-2-1-4

Mood Description Pygmy:

Pygmy is an extremely popular scale. Apart from the name, the only thing that this scale has in common with the music of the pygmies is the number of tones up to the octave (pentatonic scale). For our Western ears, the equi-pentatonic scale traditionally used by some African peoples would probably also be very unfamiliar. Nevertheless, both rhythmic patterns and melodic phrases can be implemented very well with this hemitonic pentatonic scale.

A special feature of both Pygmy versions is that four of the five tones are each an octave higher and the overtones can thus be amplified (cf. natural scale).

Pygmy is often referred to as the dorian pentatonic . This designation is not comprehensible for us, since there is no sixth level. The term dorian pentatonic probably arose in analogy to the church scales. This approach makes little sense in connection with pentatonic scales, since in this example the tone of the major sixth, which is absolutely essential for the Dorian mode, is not present. Other than that, Pygmy is a very cool sounding scale!

The peculiarity of this Pygmy tuning is that it is a hemitonic pentatonic scale. This means that, in contrast to a normal major or minor pentatonic scale (anhemitonic pentatonic scales), there is also a semitone step (cf. semitone). This is between the first tone and the second tone, so the first three tones of the natural minor scale (Aeolian) are present without a crack in Pygmy. In the F Pygmy example, that would be FG-Ab. From this tone there is a jump of a major third (also called a major third) to the fifth tone (in the example: tone C). This is followed by a minor third jump and a whole step, which leads to the octave. From here there is the same tone sequence up to the twelfth (fifth tone in the upper octave).

Despite the presence of a semitone and its potential for friction, Pygmy is very easy and intuitive to play. Clear recommendation also for beginners!

Matching Moods:
Very well suited for joint, improvised play:

• Ab Major (parallel tuning)
• Ab Sabye (parallel tuning)
• Bb Celtic Minor /Amara
• F Kurd
• Eb Ragadesh
• F equinox
• F Magic Voyage
• C Aeolia
• C Low Pygmy
• DB Jibuk
• F Mystic
• F integral
• DB Aegean
• BB La Sirena

Also good for composing together:

• C Hijaz
• F Romanian Hijaz / Kaffa
• C Celtic Minor / Amara
• C Kurd
• Eb Celtic Minor / Amara
• Eb Sabye
• G Hijaz

The sea gives the sound artist Daniele new inspiration every day, which he incorporates when building the handpans. Daniele devotes himself to each of his handmade handpans with passion. Each musical instrument is formed in a pure and unique way from the work of skilled hands. These handpans are born in a caravan workshop on cliffs in the middle of the Atlantic – shaped to the rhythm of the ocean waves, whose power and spirit are woven into the sound. This creates a clean and mysterious sound whose wave-like vibration brings the vegetative system into harmony. The Nami Handpans contain freedom, wildness and the pure power of nature.

This is how Daniele describes his work as a tuner:
The handpan is a series of experiences, trials and errors, but above all tenacity, designed to achieve quality sound results. The personal craftsmanship serves to bring to life a unique and unrepeatable instrument on every occasion. To immerse yourself in the creation process it is necessary to be calm and focused so that each hammer blow is directed towards the search for sound. Passion and love for our instruments allow us to guarantee, after many years, an extremely satisfactory result for both beginners and professionals.