19. October 1999 - Reto Weber – the Spark that started a Handpan fire

Musician Reto Weber is visiting PANArt and describes an instrument, that he wishes for.

• “Delve back through older resources and you’ll find numerous references as to the Swiss percussionist, Reto Weber, being credited as being the man who first suggested the idea of an instrument like the Hang / Handpan, to steel-instrument manufacturers PANArt. Expressing a desire for a “sounding pot in steel with some notes to play with the hands” Which is why back in 2011, we described Reto Weber, as being the ‚Spark that started a Handpan fire‘.”
  Source: https://retoweber.ch/hang/

• Scene from official PANArt documentation (2006) – “A discreet Revolution” (ca. minute 24)
• “It was the Swiss musician Reto Weber who, on a November day in 1999, revealed the dream of an instrument: a vessel made of sounding brass, played with hands.” (translated with Deepl) History on www.hang.ch, Source: Capture from June 3, 2003: https://web.archive.org/web/20030602191604/http://www.hang.ch:80/produkt/index.html
• “A musician, who visited our factory with an Indian gatam, gave us the idea to develop an instrument in steel which could be played by hand.” Source (‘PANArt Papers’): http://www.seetobago.org/trinidad/pan/archive/r&d/panart/ir_archivecopy_the_pang_instruments.htm

• To celebrate this meeting from Felix Rohner, Sabina Schärer and Reto Weber „Handpanday„- 13.October- was introduced (celebrated by the Handpan culture)