SEW Opera E Kurd | Stainless steel

The SEW Opera handpans represent a particularly warm sound experience. Their gentle tones, spiced with a full-bodied tone, penetrate into every cell under the skin. The long-lasting and at the same time well-balanced reverberation, also known as sustain, creates a spherical soundscape - regardless of whether you play slower or faster. The full, spacious sound creates a calming, warm atmosphere.

The SEW Opera handpans are ideal for studio recordings due to their very clear and fine sound. For good reason, they are also particularly popular as accompaniment to meditation, yoga and sound journeys. The sounds open up a space of inner experience, mindfulness and sensual sensing. An aura full of encounters that connects us with our deepest self and at the same time with what is bigger than us.

High-quality, specially hardened stainless steel is used for production. The visual design and the sound aesthetics of these instruments are well coordinated and form a sophisticated unit. Finely crafted sound fields make playing very easy. Every touch produces a beautiful sound. This makes the SEW Opera handpans easy to play even for beginners.

Diameter: 53cm
Height: 26.5cm
Weight: approx. 6kg
Material: stainless steel

Mood description : Kurd
Synonyms : Aeolian / with root C# = Annaziska
Basic tone sequence (8+1): E/ BCDEF# GAB
Effect : Warm - Mysterious - Dreamy
Tone range : Heptatonic

mode
Phrygian (tonal center 1st note) = major or
Aeolian (tonal center : B) = minor

Semitones : 7 - 1 - 2 - 2 - 2- 3 - 2 - 2
Tonal center: DING or first tone

Mood description:
The Kurd tuning is, if you will, the natural minor variant of the handpan tunings. Due to its particularly harmonious composition of notes, it is particularly suitable for beginners. With it, you can play everything from calm and meditative to melancholic to powerful and cheerful, with a wide variety of styles.

Even though this mood can sound very sentimental, you can still create happy sounds with it. For example, the second and third notes each produce a major triad. Just be aware that the second and third notes will be played simultaneously. You can of course also use this tension consciously to spice up your playing so that the relaxation has a stronger effect afterwards. 

This tuning is one of the first seven-tone tunings that were built and has become very popular through some videos on the Internet.

Origin and music theory of the Kurdish tuning:

Kurd takes the name of the Arabic/Turkish maqam Kurd. This selection of tones also shares the arrangement of the tones with this maqam if one assumes that the tonal center is on the first tone in the circle. This creates the complete Phrygian mode, which is characterized by a semitone step from the root note to the second note of the scale and is responsible for the mysterious sound of the scale.

However, an ambivalence remains, as the DING is a fifth below the first note and thus acts like a second tonal center, which causes the mode to change to Aeolian (natural minor). Depending on the playing style, you can switch between natural minor and Phrygian sound character. With Kurd you can play everything from calm and meditative to melancholic to powerful and cheerful, with a wide variety of styles.

Kurd shares with other minor variations (cf. Celtic Minor/ Integral) the jump of a fifth from the DING to the first tone. From this fifth step, assuming that the tonal center is the DING, one has all the tonal steps of a natural minor scale (Aeolian). What is special about Kurd is the semitone step (semitone) between the first and second tones. This step is also present in the Maqam Kurd (Arabic or Turkish scale system) of the same name (cf. Semai Kurd), but also in the Phrygian mode. The Phrygian mode is used in jazz, psychedelic rock, flamenco and fado, but also in classical music.  

Possible tone sequences:

Basic 9 note sequence: E/ BCDEF# GAB (as in the video)
Sequence of 10 notes: E/ BCDEF# GABC

Sequence of 11 notes:
Option 1: E/ (GA) BCDEF# GABC
Option 2: E/ BCDEF# GABC (D)

Sequence of 12 notes:
Option 1: E/ (GA) BCDEF# GABC
Option 2: E/ BCDEF# GABC (D)

Sequence with 13 notes:
Option 1: D/(FG)A bB CDEFGAC (D)
Option 2: D/A bB CDEFGAC (DEF)

Sequence of 14 notes:
Option 1: D/(FG)A bB CDEFGAC (DE)
Option 2: D/ A Bb CDEFGAC (DEFG）

Sequence with 15 notes: D/(FG)A bB CDEFGAC (DEF)
Sequence with 16 notes: D/(FG)A bB CDEFGAC (DEFG)

* 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:

• G Sabye (parallel key)  
• G Major (parallel key)
• E Celtic Minor / Amara
• A Celtic Minor / Amara
• E Aeolian  
• C Aegean
• Equinox
• E Magic Voyage
• E Integral
• D Pygmy

Also good for composing together:

• B Celtic Minor / Amara
• B Hijaz
• D Kurd
• D Celtic Minor / Amara
• G Ragadesh