I had the good fortune to meet Margot Adler, the National Public Radio reporter from New York.


Margot hosts "Justice Talking" weekly, in addition to her other reporting duties for NPR. She gave a great talk on February 17 about her 34 years of observing and writing about the Pagan Community in the US. She just published the third edition of "Drawing Down the Moon" a required text for anyone interested in the growth of the Neo-Paganism i nAmerica. Margot is refreshingly down to earth, and one of those people who really knows how to talk to people - a person you feel immediately comfortable with. We shared a coffee early one morning after she finished her workout at the Doubletree, and talked in front of the elevators for 30 minutes. She's one of those people you meet and after a few minutes, feel that you've known them for years - the comfort level is right there.

I've been a big fan of hers for at least twenty years, when I bought my first copy of "Drawing Down the Moon" in 1986 to educate myself about the Pagan renaissance. 

Meeting her was a big highlight of my annual journey to this wonderful gathering.

My friend Victoria is an intellectual property specialist who edits a legal peer-reviewed journal in California. She's a delightful person, takes exquisite nature photos, and carves a mean pumpkin at Samhain.


She's a FABU writer with a great blog (just so you know the 'Audhumla' of her blog's name 'Driving Audhumla' refers to the Great Cow of Norse mythology who licked the ice which contained the first man and woman - hence, the beginning of mankind.) Oh, the wonderful things you learn at P-Con! It just gets lumped in there with all of my odd and zany librarian knowledge I've picked up over the years. Thanks for this, Victoria!

We had breakfast on Saturday, and she told me of some unusual discoveries she's made plumbing YouTube as of late. She told me she's learned a great deal about the Hasidic sects of Judaism through YouTube videos! "On YOUTUBE?!?" I asked incredulously. [Of course, Victoria wouldn't joke about this.] I just remember my years in Israel where Hasids were loathe to have cameras in their presence, let alone have their picture taken, as it was considered a graven image.

I guess that's changed - I know for a fact that the Lubavitcher Hasidic sect is not, and has never been, anti-technology. In fact they embrace it.

The Lubavitcher sect of Orthodox Judaism is perhaps THE only sect that has embraced technology and uses it, not to convert non-Jews, but to encourage secular Jews to re-embrace tradition, keep kosher, pray, and lead a more observant life. Lubavitchers are the only sect which sends Orthodox representatives to live in far-flung places (like Honolulu) so traveling Orthodox Jews and local Jews have this resource available.

Check out ChabadTube.com

I blogged about this topic earlier (search Mendy Pellin)

At Pantheacon, Victoria took pictures of people wearing pentacles.

Here's yours truly...

Some of you know I'm an enthusiastic Hang player in Hawai'i.

This exciting news just in from Switzerland, from the makers of the PANArt Hang Drum, Felix Rohner and Sabina Schärer...

Bern, End of March, 2007

We thank you for your interest in our instrument and for your patience.

In our Hanghaus lie the fruits of our winter’s work, and they are waiting to meet their new owners.

There are very, very many who have written us. Heartfelt letters have reached us from all parts of the world. We especially thank those, who along with their compliments have also asked us to proceed with this gift with great care.

This we will do.

Please read the following lines through slowly, and try to understand in which sense and spirit we are thinking of passing on the instruments we have made.

A Short History of the Development of the Hang

The new instrument known as the Hang was born in January of the year 2000 in Hanghaus in Bern.

Responding to the impulse of a ghatam player we formed a great sphere out of a couple of raw forms for Steelpans that were lying around the workshop, which had in them a number of concave tone fields. At the time, no one recognized what this was to mean, and no one could play it, either.

However, this gave us, the Hangmakers, a unique possibility to make further progress in the art of tuning metal. Our understanding of the physics of various musical instruments of the world now flowed into this new thing. A new musical dimension was now opened for human hands, and this new thing was named the Hang, which signifies hand in the dialect of Bern.

In the years that followed we tuned these “resonance bodies” with all sorts of scales, eavesdropping on the particularities of the scales of the world: Arabic, Persian, Indian, Chinese. The journey went clear around the world, always keeping in mind the tuning of the new instruments. We sent these instruments to all continents and received music in return. It was a productive time!

It appeared more and more that this instrument was not just a percussion instrument, but something that raised new questions regarding the very nature of music. Hang players reported amazing experiences with the instrument, for themselves and also for their listeners. Now we are proceeding to make the Hang even closer to people: The sound is becoming softer, deeper, and clearer. We found the courage to leave behind the world of scales. In the spring of 2006 we presented a new generation of Hanghang (Hanghang is the plural form of Hang), which pleased people right from the start. Each instrument was unique in sound and tuning, and received a soft upper surface of annealed brass, with a ring of brass around the circumference, covering the formerly sharp rim.

Because the worldwide demand for ever more instruments could not be met, we decided to end all distribution through music shops. Interested people came in the summer and fall of 2006 to Bern, where they could find their instrument at their ease - or, to phrase it differently, where their Hang could find them.

Spring of 2007

The Hanghang that came out of this winter look like those of last year. Yet, when seen up close, you will notice that the placement of the tone fields has changed. This innovation has led to a clearer sound that radiates outwards with more strength. The harmonic fifths combine and produce a charming overtone music, which, in a manner of speaking, appears in the acoustical space above the playing. While with the Trinidadian Steel Pan the octave of the fundamental is the most powerful harmonic, with the Hang we give the fifth more power, with the dome shape of the tone fields. Pay attention to this next time you hear a Hang.

The allure of Hang playing does not lie in virtuosity, but in playing intuitively, in such a way as to allow space for these sounds. Seven or eight harmonically tuned tone fields are arranged around the central tone, the DING. With all Hanghang the DING is a D3 (Re3). The DING resonates together with the GU resonance of D2 (Re2) when you play with the instrument in your lap. This is the ground resonance of the air which streams in and out through the GU, when it is activated by tapping the DING or the shoulder of the DING. The throat-shaped GU has its own high resonance (D5, Re5), aligned with the DING side. In the tone circles of all the new Hanghang you will find the fifth, A3, plus D4 and A4. The remaining tones are tuned by the Hangmakers in artistic freedom. For example, here is just one possibility: D3 (central note); tone loop:A3C4D4E4F4 G4A4.

In all cases, the fundamental aspect of the tuning is D, its fifth, and its octave. In this harmonic cathedral, infinite dynamic musical possibilities are opened up for Hang players. The gentlest impulse from the hands is amplified by the tension in the lens-shaped resonance body of the instrument. The result can be a music that goes right under the skin.

How the instruments will find their players

An appointment will be necessary to purchase a Hang. There will be a limited number of Hanghang made available during the month of April, and again for one month only, later in the summer (dates to be announced). Please do not just show up at the door. There will only be one Hang made available per person.

Please come alone, as we will not have the facilities to receive additional guests. Payment is made in full on the day of purchase.We do not ship orders.

What to do next

In the event that you are interested in acquiring a Hang, please send us an e-mail. Please include your telephone number in all e-mail correspondence.In our reply we will send you information on the price of the Hang, its protective shells, bags, boxes, and how you can make an appointment to visit.We will not be in a position to respond to calls and faxes and e-mails before the first of April. You will not receive confirmation of an appointment before this date.

Please do not come to visit if you have not received this confirmation. Once you have an appointment, indulge yourself with a train trip! Hanghaus lies but a few minutes’ walk from the station. If you have made an appointment, we can offer you a free night in our guest rooms. Ron Kravitz and David Kaetz will be here in April to receive you. Both are musicians, and Hang players right from the beginnings. Between them our colleagues speak English, French and German, and we Hangmakers can also speak with you in Spanish and Italian.

We thank you for your attention and send musical greetings from Hangbauhaus,

Sabina Schärer and Felix Rohner, Hangmakers

I can't wait to meet these folks someday!

As we move into spring, the Northern Hemisphere returns to the light.

In my own world, I see light of a different type.

I'm finishing my MA thesis. Finally, after 3 1/2 years, my academic advisor, and my two other committee members, agree that I will be able to finish by late April.

My quest for a second MA began back in 1999. In order for me to file for promotion at UH-Hilo, I needed a second Master's Degree in a subject discipline of my choice. I took a sabbatical in August 2001 to attend UH-Manoa to do coursework in linguistics. I naturally thought I'd return to Hilo, and do a thesis there on some local topic. Little did I know that this would lead me to the Far West Pacific.

My life changed quite a bit since then in ways I had no way of predicting, but life is like that. Since November 2002, I've been employed full time (and then some). Squeezing in my MA research, which required me to make two visits to a faraway island in Micronesia, was no easy task, next to my accordion and drumming practice, time with my SO, and time to eat and sleep.

And then there was the writing part. I like to write - in fact, I really enjoy it. I do a lot of it, and like to think I do a fair job of it. My mother urged me for many years to continue my writing practice through "journaling" (boys simply didn't keep "diaries" back in those days). Mom thought I put together ideas pretty well - I wrote both of my parents pretty regularly when I was a kibbutznik in the 70's. I inherited those letters when my parents passed away.

Have you ever read stuff you wrote 30+ years ago? Wow. I don't remember being in that headspace, aaah, but that's another blog.

The whole purpose of doing a thesis was to do something worthy and useful in the field of linguistics. I didn't want to write some drivel that would end up on some shelf that would never get used.

My advisor suggested I work on a Chukkic language called Satawalese. He wanted me to take a snapshot of the language - the sounds, words, sentence patterns. I've blogged quite a bit about my adventures in Yap collecting Satawalese data for my paper, so I won't go into that now. It was challenging, and far from over - I've just scratched the surface really. I'm hoping the Satawalese get interested enough in their language to take this further, so their descendants, if they are no longer speaking Satawalese when they're born, will have printed materials and sound recordings of what their language used to sound like.

Language/Linguistics is having its own "global warming" event - it's called language extinction. Many languages are going 'dark' throughout the world. Languages that have been spoken for centuries and longer are disappearing - simply enter in "language extinction" into Google and you'll see what I mean.

Is Satawalese becoming extinct? One thing that is actually protecting it for the moment is that it's spoken on a small island, and the people there live mostly like they have for centuries, though that's changing - They have limited access to email and the Internet. Some language consultants I worked with on Yap told me that some of the younger kids on Satawal want to speak English and not Satawalese. Of course, they can speak BOTH, but they don't know that. Hopefully they will realize that they can use both.

If I can make some small significant impact with the work I have done, my life will have been worth it.