Like in November 2017, Hang Massive is back on tour, visiting the beautiful city of Barcelona during this three-months’ music voyage passing for some of the most evocative cities around Europe. We have been following their work as part of our dedication to the instrument and his fast developing scene, paying special attention to the band that has introduced it to a wider public back in 2011 with their YouTube hit Once Again. After 8 years, Danny Cudd and Markus Offbeat have developed their own personal style, mixing the handpan and the hang with several different music genres, passing from dub, reggae, and several styles of electronic music, to classic music and ambient interpretation of the marvelous sound of their instruments. Their latest record, Luminous Emptiness, comes after a period composing in India and visiting some spectacular places of the magic and mysterious subcontinent, a place that harbored the birth of the band back in 2011.
Their concert at the Sala Apolo in Barcelona is cheered by more than a thousand fans, who’ve been queuing to get just a few meters from the stage to witness the soft magic of the two musicians. The first song is End of Sky, taken from their latest album. Differently from their last concert in Barcelona, the band has opted for a five handpan set, with a synth and a launcher to trigger drum samples and to play electronic drones along with the music of the instruments.
Heavy kicks and bass lines set the mood for a profound experience, surrounded by the scenography where prevailing red and yellow colors created a warm and introspective sensation. The images of landscapes and far away stories deepen the sensation of being driven away, over the mountains of India and the contemporary past of their inhabitants. Warmth of the Sun Rays follows, with its simple and elegant taste of electronic music. A nine-minute’s theme with a brief, harder break, leading to the vision of old Oriental country life, with oxen and Buddhist temples in the mountains. A sequence of melodic breaks and heavy drum kick and bass lines with a hint of tabla is in harmonic contrast with the traditional images on the giant screen, charging with tension and power the mood. The fans are now on tune, they want to dance over the themes and they understood how the concert is going to unwind.
Then it’s time for The Secret Kiss. Marcus can speak Spanish, he thanked us all for being there and sharing the experience, and how there are thankful because we’d rather went to the concert instead of going out to the movies or something else. We decided to be there because Hang Massive is a one-of-a-kind experience, a travel began years ago, a story that keeps on adding new chapters and characters. The Secret Kiss has to be a dear song for them, as Markus asks to put the smartphones away and just feel the flowing of the song. A two parts’ instrumental intro with voices and sitars, mandalas on the screen and a strong meditative sensation wrap us into the composition of the song. Luminous Emptiness is announced by Danny, who starts playing wobble effects for a long drone intro, with the heavy kick that structured the whole concert. The pulsating drone makes the hall vibrate, and us too. With Boat Ride, it’s definitely a dancing Friday night. Light go down, heavy bass lines and pixeled television screens followed by higher volumes and the cheering of the fans who definitely start dancing and applauding. Here Comes the Badger is a shower of stars and Buddhas, the bass line accompanies the notes of two handpans playing in a bit of energic Drum and Bass style. A hint of incense fills the air and the shower of stars becomes lotus flowers, moons and a fountain. It is a music crescendo, the fans are now set in the final mood of the concert, between electronic music and the sound of the handpan, halfway between a DJ set and a concert. When the music suddenly stops, its time for the eight song, Awoken, a soft intro and then a dubstep drone played by Markus while Danny is playing the handpans. With Omat Odat, one of their most know songs, the duo gets back to their old style, adding drumbeats and a nice offbeat sidechained drone.
After the song, Danny takes the microphone to deliver his thoughts and ideas on our interconnection as humans, and it’s the time for his sharing an insight he loves, a message that always goes with the experience of Hang Massive, a sort of artistic and live manifesto that is always present during their concerts. Divided as we are, we should remember that we are not. In fact, we have a bond that makes us part of the same wonderful being humans. An invitation to change, to change now if we wish to fulfill our mission and to be what we are meant to. The message leads the way towards the next song, Once Again, in a heavier remix with strong drum lines and a crescendo of dubstep drones.
The last song, Sudden. Markus is thanking us all. A heavy drone of one handpan note, the ding, and kick drum, breaks, and just the few notes needed to keep the flow going, with the fans and the artists dancing their way to the end of another wonderful concert and experience!
