SEW Opera Handpan C# Celtic Minor / Amara | Stainless Steel

The SEW Opera handpans stand for a particularly warm sound experience. Their gentle tones, spiced with a full-bodied timbre, go right under the skin into every cell. The long-lasting and at the same time well-balanced aftertaste, also known as sustain, ensures a spherical sound carpet - both with slower and faster playing styles. The rich, spacious sound creates a soothing, warm atmosphere.

Due to the very clear and fine sound, the SEW Opera handpans are very well suited for studio recordings. For good reason, they are also particularly popular to accompany meditation, yoga and sound journeys. The sounds open up a space of inner experience, mindfulness and sensual feeling. An aura of encounter that connects us to our deepest self and at the same time to that which is bigger than us.

A high-quality, specially hardened stainless steel is used for production. The optical design and the tonal aesthetics of these instruments are well coordinated and form a mature unit. Finely worked out tone fields make it very easy to play. Every touch creates a beautiful sound. This makes the SEW Opera handpans easy to play even for newcomers.

Diameter: 55cm
Height: 26.5cm
Weight: about 6kg
Material: stainless steel

Tuning Label: Celtic Minor
Synonym: Amarah
Default tone sequence: C/ G Bb CDD# FGC
Atmosphere: melancholic-archaic-medieval
Mode: Minor - Aeolian
Pitch : hexatonic

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

Tonal center: DING

Mood description:

With this immortal selection of notes (Amara) you can easily conjure up sounds that are reminiscent of times gone by with perfect fifths and fourths. This instrument might have found its place in spiritual ceremonies in Celtic times. Compared to the full Aeolian mode, the sixth degree is absent here, making this tuning a bit more open. Especially in the upper range you can play very nice harmonies. This is one of the most popular tunings in the handpan world.

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

This tuning sounds particularly archaic, since many pure intervals (fifth, fourth, octave) that were already used in the Middle Ages can be played.

Another special feature results from the arrangement of the tones: In the example D Celtic Minor, the tones on the right side result in the triad of the root, in this case D minor (ADFA). On the left side, on the other hand, all tones of the major triad are one tone below the root, i.e. C major (CEGC). When playing harmoniously, the major sound impression can also be represented very easily. Not for nothing the probably most common handpan tuning.

Matching Moods:

Very well suited for playing together, improvisatively:

• Eb Major (parallel tuning)
• Eb Sabye (parallel tuning)
• D Aeolian
• G Celtic Minor / Amara
• C Kurd
• F Ragadesh

Also good for composing together:

• A Celtic Minor / Amara
• Bb Aegean
• D Celtic Minor
• D Kurd
• Bb Celtic Minor / Amara
• BB Kurd
• F Sabye