Maurizio Rana – Music For Handpan [EP – 4 songs]

Label: RadioSpia
Release Date: 19th Feb 2018
UPC / Bar Code: 190394927639
Catalogue: RadioSpia 11 – RS 11
Genre: New Age / Ambient – Contemporary Instrumental / Acoustic – Dreamy
Comments: Instrumental, relaxing music (tracks 2-3-4 are holophonic)
Artists sound like: David Kuckherman – Adrian J Portia – Yuki Koshimoto – Sam Maher

Stores:
iTunes store / Apple Music: (LINK)
Amazon.com: (LINK)
Amazon.it: (LINK)
7 digital: (LINK)
Qobuz (hi-res): (LINK)

Streaming:
Spotify (LINK)
Deezer (LINK)
YouTube (LINK)

Short E.P. description:
Four suggestive songs by the handpan artist Maurizio Rana, born in Apulia-Italy. The 1st track “A Two Stars Collision” has cellos, sitar and Indian percussions playing and dancing around the instrument. The other three (for handpan solo) have holophonic sound.

Songs:
– 1 – A Two Stars Collision [4:35]
Composers: Maurizio Rana, Marco Maffei (BMI), Mario Longo (SIAE)
Publisher: RadioSpia Publishing (BMI) – ISRC: IT-WIW-17-00002
Performed by:
– Maurizio Rana: Handpan
– Mario Longo: Cellos
– Marco Maffei: Percussions, sampled sitar and programming

– 2 – Reby [2:37]
Composed and performed by Maurizio Rana
Publisher: RadioSpia Publishing (BMI) – ISRC: IT-WIW-18-00001

– 3 – Namasté [4:06]
Composed and performed by Maurizio Rana
Publisher: RadioSpia Publishing (BMI) – ISRC: IT-WIW-18-00002

– 4 – Josephine [3:36]
Composed and performed by Maurizio Rana
Publisher: RadioSpia Publishing (BMI) – ISRC: IT-WIW-18-00003

Videoclip (released on Feb 14th, 2018):
A Two Stars Collision [Official Videoclip] – YouTube (LINK) ISRC: IT-M9O-18-00001

Credits:
– Cover Picture and Art: The Gorky
– Engineered, recorded, edited, mixed and mastered by Marco Maffei at Mastering.it audio labs
– Executive production: Mastering.it audio labs (Italy), between March and December 2017
– Artistic production: Marco Maffei
– (C) and (P) Copyright: RadioSpia 2018 – All rights reserved
– Publisher: RadioSpia Publishing (BMI)

The artist:
Maurizio Rana was born in Puglia / Italy, in 1964. He has always been looking for the way to transmit a recognizable trace of his existence, to imprint it in an unforgettable way in the life of his dearest ones.
This is how he discovered the handpan instrument, which would become the tool for his own ideas, thanks to a careful and daily practice.
In his mature age and after about 3 years of experience and study, in 2017 he released his first solo hand album, about 70 minutes long, recorded with holophonic technique by Marco Maffei and named “The Moon and the Sun” (CD).
The handpan is a harmonic percussion, a sounding sculpture made by particular alloys, which is an evolution of the steel pan (or steel drum) coming from Trinidad and Tobago. The first handpan, called Hang®, was created in 1999 in Bern (Switzerland) by PanArt. It was assembled and hammered by hand (as the best manufacturers do).
This handmade way allowed a maximum production of 100 pieces per year and, in order to buy one, it was necessary to wait for very long periods.
The handpan is considered the second millennium instrument and, thanks to the birth of other manufacturers, its production has later increased and its “cult” has now spread worldwide.
Nowadays, we can count around 150 producers (very few are able to forge high quality handpans) and the popularization of this young musical ideology is a fact.

For Maurizio Rana, its discovery transformed into an irrepressible passion that has turned his intuitive touches into real musical compositions. The allure of the handpan harmonic disc is clear to many people and the artist Maurizio considers that as a fundamental part of his own parallel life, in which he shares with the world the emotions he feels in playing the disc.
The artistic authenticity of Maurizio stimulated a subsequent musical research, made by the RadioSpia records company, with the aim of creating a significant musical code, going even beyond the idea of handpan solo. So in 2018, from a new Marco Maffei’s production, the composition “A Two Stars Collision” came out: cellos, sitar and Indian percussions can play and dance around the handpan. It can probably be a new style based on handpan for the international music scene, a music genre connecting Japan to India and Scotland, but produced in Apulia (at the Mastering.it audio labs) with Apulian musicians (we mention Mario Longo on cellos).
The value of this first track motivated this “Music For Handpan” EP release, distributed worldwide since 19th February 2018 and enhanced by an original videoclip made in collaboration with Sara Sabatino.
For the eleventh time, RadioSpia connected a precious Apulian music team for an international music production.

The sound:
The particular circular construction of the handpan, similar to a flying saucer, influenced the artistic production and marked the way for different microphone tecniques, which would have gave the listener the impression of being exactly in the middle of the disc, surrounded by notes coming from different points around the listener’s head. “Reby“, “Namasté” and “Josephine” have holophonic sound, which supports this kind of listening experience.
The first track “A Two Stars Collision“, instead, has a traditional stereophonic sound.

Some Instruments used:
Handpans: Zambelli Annaziska (on track 1), Zambelli Little Blue (on track 2), MDR Silverado (on track 3), Panormus Drum D minor (on track 4)  –  acoustic cello – various acoustic percussions – digital percussions – acoustic sitar – AKG, M-Audio microphones – Drawmer, Joemeek, ART and Focusrite preamps – TC, Universal Audio, Urei, DBX, Apple, Waves and Focusrite dynamics – Lexicon, Universal Audio, TC outboards – MOTU ADC / DAC – Apple Logic Pro recorder and editor. Stereo sound mix (track 1) and holophonic sound mix (track 2, 3, 4) made with Mastering.it hybrid digi-log technology.

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