Interview with PanAlchemy

PanAlchemy is the musical collaboration of handpan artists Lachlan Hawkins and Tsoof Baras with renowned bansuri player Darshil Shah. The trio presents a collection of calming and energetic music that could be described as a healing fusion of rhythm, improvisation and musical spontaneity. Each bringing their diverse musical and cultural backgrounds, PanAlchemy’s music is grounding, calming and a source of introspection and healing.

BEMAC: Hello PanAlchemy, can you start by telling us how the group came together?

PanAlchemy: Tsoof and Locky (Lachlan) had been performing together for more than a decade on all sorts of projects throughout school and university with paint drumming, body percussion and a percussion ensemble of their own – before Locky took an interest in the unique steel handpan instrument from Switzerland in 2015. Locky had been inspired by world leading handpan artist Manu Delago and his work collaborating with classical musicians including an incredible duo with bass clarinet and handpan, and it was a dream to collaborate with the Indian bansuri flute or the shakuhachi (the Japanese flute which Locky had heard years earlier with Riley Lee and TaikOz).

Tsoof brought the idea together in 2023 after working with Darshil – a renowned bansuri artist here in Queensland – and after a few sessions together, we decided to proceed with the collaboration: PanAlchemy. Three musicians from diverse cultural backgrounds but with a shared love of this uplifting music and a respect that extends beyond the music.

BEMAC: For people unfamiliar with the handpan and bansuri, can you explain a little about the history of the instruments and how you came to play them?

PanAlchemy: The handpan is a unique steel sound sculpture originating from Switzerland and it is one of the newest acoustic percussion instruments, having been first built in 2001. It’s a tuned steel instrument inspired by the Caribbean steel drum whereby two sheets of steel are glued together and hammered to a particular tuning and key centre to give a pure and resonant tone that is played with the hands. It has been used in many contexts – in sound healing, hospital wards through to orchestral concertos – but we are particularly drawn to its healing and meditative nature, and its versatility as a soloist or accompaniment.

The Bansuri is a very ancient Indian bamboo flute used in many traditional settings. Darshil has been playing bansuri since the year 2000. Born and brought up in Mumbai, he has had the privilege of learning music from some of the top bansuri players of Maihar Gharana (Lineage). His current guru is Shri. Partha Sarkar who is a senior disciple of Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia.

Darshil’s core musical roots are from Indian classical raga music, however he is always keen to collaborate with artists from all genres and explore the musical boundaries. He loves adding the Hindustani classical music touch to complement any existing music, song or piece performed.

BEMAC: The handpan and bansuri are quite unique, and the pairing of them even more rare, what challenges (and rewards) have you discovered in playing these lesser known instruments? How do your different musical backgrounds influence the music you create together?

PanAlchemy: The first thing that we continue to notice as we collaborate with different instruments is that the steel (the handpan) seems to meld together beautifully with the wooden instruments. Steel and wood! This extends to the guitar, cello, the Native American flute and many other instruments. You will hear the guitar together with the handpan as part of our show with the inclusion of Matthew Teakle – a fellow graduate of the Qld Conservatorium and a wonderful contemporary and jazz guitarist.

The biggest challenge as a trio is finding an optimal way to notate and work through new ideas as the Indian tradition of learning music is quite different to what us percussionists learnt at school here in Australia. Musicians like Darshil are often expected to memorise entire compositions and learn by ear so translating ideas and memorising sequences as a group can be challenging. But it also gives us the opportunity to learn from each other and adopt each other’s approaches by musically crossing that cultural barrier and finding a shared musical language to work through.

Beyond this, there is the challenge of tuning and making sure we find appropriate melody ranges for Darshil’s flutes and the handpans. Each handpan is fixed in its tuning (unless you have a hammer, a lot of brains or a world class handpan maker in your neighbourhood!) so there are limits to what keys and scales we can feature. But this gives us the opportunity to play multiple handpans and we are fortunate to own instruments from around the world including a very supportive maker here in Australia (Tim Tom from Celestial Sound). We will be featuring numerous handpans as well as an ensemble fleet (half a dozen handpan players on stage performing together!)

Given the rare collaboration, it means that many rules can be broken and we can explore a sound that is still influenced by our own individual style but an ensemble sound that is entirely our own.

BEMAC: The title of your performance is ‘Unity’, what drew you to this concept?

PanAlchemy: The theme of unity was really brought out in the feeling we have playing this music. We are three musicians from very different backgrounds and cultural upbringings yet there is a feeling of togetherness, joy and wonder when we play. And it’s that feeling which we want to translate through to the audience. It’s also the feeling we want to see more of in the world that is increasingly divided. This is our little gift of community and togetherness, and an invitation for others to join us in celebrating the unifying feeling of music.

BEMAC: Can you elaborate on the role healing plays in your music?

PanAlchemy: Healing, similarly to the theme of unity, is a feeling and a self-reflection that comes through ourselves when we play these instruments. The sounds bring us back to our centre and to a selfless place where we can give and contribute to others through music. The handpans and the bansuri are very grounding and calming to listen to but we hope something deeper passes through the listener when we play. Tsoof and Lachlan spent many years playing these instruments in cancer wards, in waiting areas and for their own loved ones with terminal illness, so there is a history of healing in their story and in this beautiful instrument. Music is a form of medicine after all and we use it everyday to celebrate, to cry or to uplift each other!

PanAlchemy: Unity
7:30pm, Saturday 19 October
VENTspace
23 Glenelg Street, South Brisbane

PanAlchemy: Unity
3:00pm, Saturday 2 November
Studio 188
188 Brisbane Street, Ipswich

Find out more and get tickets