RPgea2: A Handpan Gathering
Introduction
RPgea2 was a handpan gathering located at Flintrock Heaven, RP’s custom built house in southwest Austin, Texas. It took place on April 13, 2014 from 3pm until 10:30pm. Like the first RPgea, the celebrations included a potluck dinner and live, improvisational music featuring idiophones, which are commonly referred to as handpans.
In an atmosphere of big-ticket events like Hangout UK, Hangout USA, Pantasia, Song of the forest and Handpangea, RPgea exist as a refreshingly old school get together; A free gathering of handpan enthusiast, players and friends.
Jeremy Dinieri organized the event via the Texas Handpan Cabal facebook group.
RP the Host
The name RPgea is a salute to RP Watson, the host of the gathering. It is a play on words combining RP with Handpangea (the first large scale gathering of handpans in the western hemisphere).
RP is a legendary feature of Barton Springs in Austin Texas. He is an amateur musician that loves the natural world and to work with his hands. He plays piano, halo, various percussion instruments, didge, and hank drums (steel tongue drum).
He built his home, Flintrock Heaven, with an appreciation of acoustics and managed to incorporate various “sound chambers” that amplify sound.
Handpans, Players & Friends
There were over 25 people that came to the party. Although most were local to Austin, TX, two came from as far away as Dallas, TX.
The 12 handpan types included:
- 6 Halos from Pantheon Steel (1 Shiraz, 2 Golden Gates, 1 Oxalis, 1 MP9, 1 Celtic Minor)
- 1 Shanti D minor #15
- 1 Symphonette Nitrided Earth Prototype from Dave’s Island Instruments
- 1 Saraz Equinox 8
- 1 Spacedrum Hijaz
- 2 BellArt Bells
Great Food
A potluck is a meal with no particular menu. People participate by bringing a dish for all to share.
The feast at RPgea2 included pizza and plenty of home made goodies: hummus, Sara’s famous 6 layer bean dip, grilled Salmon, beet juice, banana bread, chips, quinoa salad, brussels sprout/cauliflower surprise, raw vegetable plate, halo oranges, pineapples, strawberries, blue berries, grapes and cantaloupe.
Good Music
RP made recordings and posted some of them on his soundcloud page.
- RPGea2 first jam of the gathering: Click and listen
- Cris Gale (Toney) playing flute and Jeremy Di Nieri playing GG halo: Click and listen
Youtube Clip from Stephanie Reid:
Hangism Printed on Aluminum
Hangism was there. Oh, you don’t know–What is Hangism?
We shot a video (poorly done and sloppy) to show someone what it looks like on an aluminum print ready to hang. Also to show how well the matte finish handles glare, etc… As far as detail, its the same as you see in the Hangism portfolio.
Listen to the beautiful singing the beginning of the clip:
More Handpan Topics
Hangism and Panism
Hangism and Panism is a work of art (or design) created by using a single digital image of a PanArt Hang or handpan. The image is duplicated, flipped, rotated, moved, and layered as needed. And, various adjustment details are applied.
Visit the online store for Hangism prints.
Visit the online store for Panism prints.
Thank you for Learning about RPgea2
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Chris Hooper
Chris "AoxoA" Hooper is a photographer, retoucher, and blogger based in Austin, TX. As a photographer, he specializes in music, lifestyle, concert, and portraits. He enjoys the great outdoors with his lovely wife and amazing son.
Looks like a lot of fun – Great pictures ! Hope I can join in sometime.
It would be great to see you here !
Wow! This is quite a spread Chris. Thanks for putting this together.
I enjoyed myself immensely and we will host again for sure. Peggy will be in town next time.
Thanks RP, glad you like it. We, and especially Cruz, enjoyed it very much. If you have any pics of someone in the outside sound chamber let me know. I would like to add it in.