The Saraz was created in 2011 by Mark Garner in the beautiful Southern Appalachian Mountains surrounding Asheville, North Carolina. As a musician and percussionist with an interest in exotic instruments, Mark discovered the Panart Hang™ in 2009 while living in Switzerland. In 2011, he purchased his first Handpan, a Pantheon Steel Halo, and was immediately captivated by the instrument. In his own words “a little voice in the back of my head said that this thing is going to change your life. I could have never imagined just how much change that voice meant!”
Almost immediately, Mark wanted to purchase another instrument with hopes to collect a chromatic set of handpans to play in every genre of music. In 2011, that was virtually impossible however. Mark was particularly shocked by how little developed the art form was and how few quality instruments were available. Like many other builders, the inaccessibility of the instrument inspired him to build his own drums. He spent a year of researching and gathering tools while quickly discovering that very little information on how to build handpans was publicly available. He then briefly observed Dennis Martin of Rhythmical Steel, Kyle Cox and Jim Dusin of Pantheon Steel, Victor Levinson, the creator of the SPB, as well as Robbie Davis and Ellie Mannette of Mannette Musical Instruments. While Mark is endlessly thankful to each of these people for the valuable hints that they provided, it was only the very beginning of discovery into the endless journey that is tuned steel. It has taken many thousands of hours of hammering by a family of artists to create the current chapter of the Saraz.
- Handpan & Pantam (Maker Only)
- https://www.sarazhandpans.com/
- sarazhandpans@gmail.com
