Max Pokrovsky and his band Nogu Svelo! have been vocal in their opposition to the war in Ukraine and their song “Ukraine” is a searing anti-war message that is at once heartbreaking and uplifting. Since the beginning of this horrifying and senseless war I have been invested in helping Ukrainians who are experiencing unimaginable suffering.…
At long last the virtual instrument library that Andy Narell and I began working on nearly 10 years ago has been released and is now available through Ilio – a producer and distributor of innovative and inspiring tools for musicians based in Southern California. Andy gathered 22 of the best Steel Pans created by Ellie Mannette from Basses…
AOS produces high quality handpans from our workshop here in Belgium. It is a collaboration between myself and Oliviers Trappaniers that began as I became able to tune again after destroying my shoulder in an accident. We created AOS in late 2019 but for many reasons were very quiet about our work until…
A four volume set of new music of chaos and noise. Recently I have thought a lot about the nature of communication and how stories and ideas are transformed as they pass from one person to another, how the retelling stories are filtered through personal experience, mood, relationships with those listening, and ultimately the motivation…
My workspace is at 18 Rue de la Glacière 1060 Bruxelles Belgique Coming from Gare de Midi one can take the Tram 81 to Moris. Then is a few minute walk to Glacière. #18 Rue de la Glacière is a garage entrance. At the back of the garage on the left there is a hallway. There…
As one who was quite taken by We Are Rising – the final product as well as the unfolding story of making the record in a month, very well documented and promoted by NPR – I felt quite content to buy and listen to your subsequent productions without giving much thought to hearing any of…
There has been a lot of travel and many changes in my world recently and while Facebook, Twitter, Pintrest etc. offer a peak into what is happening I feel that a rare and official statement is in order. In launching the new website last November I had every intention of keeping content current and information…
Occasionally I find myself sitting at my computer with a lot of time on my hands, my digital audio recorder, and plenty of fizzy water and out pops something like this… This one was conceived of as I sat listening to my friend Cloud Shorty have a very private phone conversation in Chinese. I apologize…
Greetings. I am in Morgantown WV for the fourth time in 6 months where I will spend 5 days finishing a couple of instruments built here in the Mannette Instruments Workshop. Before I say anything else I would like to thank Ellie and the MI crew for giving me the opportunity to work out of that…
Welcome to the newly designed, much more colorful and informative Pancycle website. Please take a look around and see what’s new. On the Home Page you will find a feed of multiple social media platforms that I use where you will see posts directly related to Steel Pan, Music and Musicians as well as posts about my…