Drummer who loves to hang

David Kuckhermann loves creating unique sounds on the hang drum. Photos provided to Shanghai Star

Think you know what a drum sounds like? If you listen to the hang you may be surprised. Zhang Kun chats to a musician who is making unique music with a new instrument.

David Kuckhermann is from Germany, but he plays drums from many ethnic cultures: Udu, Tabla, Cajon. He is especially keen on the hang, a new instrument invented in 2000. It's a drum with melodies.

"Sometimes it takes you to a strange and mysterious place where the world around you disappears and you are floating around peacefully in nothingness," he says about the unique sound and power of the hang, an instrument that changed his music life.

Kuckhermann will be playing in Shanghai for the first time on Dec 4, at Shanghai Grand Theatre.

The hang drum looks like a flying saucer, or a turtle shell. It was created only 14 years ago, by Felix Rohner and Sabina Scharer in Bern, Switzerland.

The instrument is made of two half-shells of steel sheet glued together at the rim. The name comes from the Bernese German word for hand.

On China's video-sharing websites, people have made curious comments about video clips of the handpan's performance. The unique sound of the hang is so striking that they said it "reaches the heart and soul", "resonates in your dream".

It is said that tiny extraterrestrial spirits live in these instruments, and you can discover great wisdom and the truth about the Nature and existence, says Kuckhermann, a veteran percussionist who used to study with master players of various ethnic drums and incorporated techniques and rhythms from the traditions of Iran, India, Egypt, Turkey, Europe and Africa to develop his personal style.

He is fascinated with drumming because it is more abstract and direct. Playing with his hand and fingers can "produce a great variety of sounds even on a simple surface".