Written by Ambre Montespan on Oct 12, 2026 · Updated on Oct 15, 2026
Table of contents:
Want to discover famous songs played on the handpan? Wondering which popular pieces have made this percussion instrument famous? Want to know which ones you’ll be able to play on your future instrument?
As a handpan player for over 10 years, I’ve spent entire evenings watching the most-viewed handpan videos so I could learn the songs my friends and family ask me to play. That’s why I can introduce you to these pieces and tell you which instrument is best suited to playing them.
The most famous handpan piece is “Once Again” by the duo Hang Massive, released in 2011 and viewed over 64 million times. When it comes to covers, “Nothing Else Matters,” “Hallelujah,” and the “Game of Thrones” theme are among the most popular.
By reading this entire article, you’ll discover:
- The most famous original handpan pieces
- Famous songs covered on this musical instrument
- The scale and number of notes needed to play these well-known songs
- Verified appearances of the handpan in movies and on famous albums
This will give you a complete handpan playlist for discovering the instrument through some of its most beautiful pieces. You’ll also learn which songs you can play based on the scale and number of notes on your future instrument.
Let’s begin with the original pieces that put the instrument on the map!
What Are the Most Famous Original Handpan Pieces?
Most of the instrument’s most famous pieces are not covers but original compositions written for the handpan and shared on YouTube. There is no official ranking of these pieces, so view counts remain the best benchmark.
The best-known is still Once Again by Hang Massive, the duo formed by Danny Cudd and Markus Offbeat. The video was filmed one fall morning in Bath, England, on a Hang—the instrument created in Switzerland in 2000 from which the handpan evolved. This also explains why many people still call it a Hang drum. Published on December 29, 2011, it now has over 64 million views. Its rhythm has almost become the archetype of handpan music. You’ll recognize it within the first few seconds of watching this legendary piece below:
The same duo also created The Secret Kissing of the Sun and Moon, whose official music video is approaching 31 million views. Long before them, Manu Delago had already made a lasting impression with Mono Desire. According to its creator, this Hang solo was the most popular handpan video on the internet in 2007, with over five million views. In fact, Icelandic singer Björk discovered him through this video and asked him to play the Hang on her album Biophilia. You’ll learn more about the results of this collaboration below.
Another classic is Daniel Waples’s Solo Hang Drum in a Tunnel, filmed in a tunnel beneath the streets of central London. By early 2024, the video was approaching 12 million views. Japanese musician Yuki Koshimoto also earned her place among the classics with New Moon, released on October 19, 2011, which now has over 18 million views. In the video, she plays a 13-note Spacedrum, a handpan made in France. Her street performance in Singapore with didgeridoo player Taku has surpassed 36 million views.
Next is New York by Sam Maher, released on October 31, 2015. It was recorded inside a Brooklyn subway station and now has over 10 million views. Phoenix by the duo Yatao, featuring handpan and didgeridoo, has also reached this milestone. Kate Stone has surpassed 3 million views with Urban. Finally, Lafa by French artist David Charrier was performed in Toulouse on two handpans and now has over 2.8 million views.
Today, the most widely listened-to handpan music often consists of long meditation sessions. One example is Calming Meditation by German artist Malte Marten, an hour of handpan music that has surpassed 33 million views. His piece Seeds of Growth has reached over 22 million views. The Italian duo Giolì and Assia have surpassed 8 million views with an acoustic session from their EP Moon Faces, performed on handpan and piano. Other pieces have exceeded one million views, including Aramir by Loris Lombardo, which blends handpan with tablas, and Tales of Goapan by Dabo, accompanied by a didgeridoo. If you want relaxing background music, Malte Marten’s videos offer enough material to fill entire evenings. However, if you want to play familiar songs that your friends and family will recognize, covers are the better place to start.
What Famous Songs Have Been Covered on the Hang Drum?
Among the most-viewed covers, Metallica’s Nothing Else Matters, performed by Italian musician Mumi, has over 4 million views. She plays it on a 14-note handpan in E minor, while her version of Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen is performed on a 14-note D Kurd handpan that she built herself. Its slow tempo makes it one of the songs I recommend to beginners who play in D minor, along with Mad World and The Sound of Silence. David Charrier covered Mad World on two handpans in different streets and apartment courtyards, inviting adults and children alike to sing along.
There are also numerous covers of music from movies and TV shows, starting with the Game of Thrones theme. Enrico Carnevale’s version, played on a D-minor handpan, has surpassed 700,000 views. In Japan, Takao Minemoto has exceeded one million views with The Path of the Wind, a piece from the soundtrack of the animated film My Neighbor Totoro. On the rock side, drummer El Estepario Siberiano performed System of a Down’s Toxicity on a 10-note handpan. Before beginning, he explained that he would have to modify certain sections because the instrument lacked some of the required notes, but his video still surpassed 2.4 million views. There are also covers of traditional and classical pieces such as Bella Ciao, Pachelbel’s Canon, and Philip Glass’s Metamorphosis II. Finally, video game music has also been adapted for the handpan, including Song of Storms from Zelda and the Minecraft theme.
What Scale and How Many Notes Do You Need to Play These Pieces on the Handpan?
The handpan is a fixed-scale instrument, which means it cannot reproduce just any song, unlike a guitar or piano. Some pieces require notes that the instrument simply does not have. Hang Massive provides a good example: during a 2017 concert in Adelaide, the duo played five differently tuned Hangs. Danny Cudd explained that they made this choice because a single Hang did not provide enough notes to create a complete scale. Before choosing a song, you should therefore make sure it fits your instrument.
The D Kurd scale is the one you’ll encounter most often in lessons and tutorials. According to renowned player Malte Marten, the 10-note D Kurd is the most widely played handpan model in the world. It has nine notes surrounding the central note, called the Ding. According to him, almost all workshops, online courses, and lessons are taught in this scale. The Master the Handpan learning platform even offers a complete course on eight famous songs, including Let It Be and Feeling Good, that can only be followed with a D Kurd handpan. To explore the other possibilities, read my article explaining how to choose the right scale for your handpan.
The number of notes is also important. A collection of 25 sheet music arrangements written for the D Kurd illustrates this clearly: 12 songs can be played with as few as nine notes, while the other 13 require an instrument with 10 or more notes. With a 9-note D Kurd handpan, you can play Let It Be by the Beatles, Perfect by Ed Sheeran, or Comptine d’un autre été by Yann Tiersen. The same applies to Faded by Alan Walker and The Sound of Silence. One additional note lets you add What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong, Viva la Vida by Coldplay, or the Game of Thrones theme. Bella Ciao, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Despacito also require a 10-note model in this collection.
Personally, I recommend a 10-note D Kurd if your goal is to play well-known songs because it will give you access to every melody in this collection. A piece written in another key can often be transposed—meaning that all its notes are shifted using software—although this does not always work when the melody requires notes that the instrument does not have. To play an original composition, it is best to use a handpan tuned to the same scale as the recording, such as the C-sharp minor scale used for Sam Maher’s New York. Finally, tablature remains uncommon, so most musicians prefer to learn from sheet music. To learn how to read it, see my guide to reading handpan sheet music and tablature.
Does This Percussion Instrument Really Appear in Movies?
In the world of cinema, the handpan is said to be heard in Arrival, Lion, Kung Fu Panda 3, and Paddington 2, yet it is not credited in any of them. The soundtrack for Lion, composed by Dustin O’Halloran and Hauschka, primarily relies on piano and strings, while Jóhann Jóhannsson’s score for Arrival—released in France under the title Premier Contact—features vocals, piano loops, and struck wooden boards. The Kung Fu Panda 3 soundtrack uses Chinese instruments such as the erhu and pipa. Nevertheless, verifiable appearances do exist. For example, in the 2013 film My Sweet Pepper Land, actress Golshifteh Farahani plays music she composed herself on the Hang in several scenes. The Hang was also the subject of a documentary titled HANG – a discreet revolution, which was made in France in 2006.
In addition, percussionist Manu Delago plays the Hang on Virus, a 2011 track from Björk’s album Biophilia, and later accompanied her on tour. He also created Hang sounds for the score of the movie RoboCop, and he presented the first piece written for Hang and orchestra to a London audience, accompanied by the strings of the London Symphony Orchestra. Hang Massive composed the music for Mica, a Franco-Moroccan film by Ismaël Ferroukhi that was presented at film festivals in 2020 and released in French theaters on December 22, 2021. The director explained that he chose the Hang because it brings “depth and poetry” to his main character. Finally, Portuguese musician Kabeção introduced the handpan to a broader audience in his country by reaching the final of Got Talent Portugal in 2015.
Play These Famous Handpan Songs Yourself!
The most famous handpan pieces include both original compositions, such as Once Again and Mono Desire, and covers of well-known songs that many tutorials teach on a D Kurd handpan. Your instrument’s scale and number of notes will determine which melodies you can play. Thanks to the information you’ve just read, you now know which pieces to listen to first and which ones you’ll be able to play yourself.
However, it is still difficult to find sheet music for these well-known songs that matches a specific scale and number of notes. That’s why I personally recommend the sheet music book from Instruments du Monde, which features 25 famous songs arranged for a 9- or 10-note D Kurd handpan. The book includes a video tutorial for each song, while a 16-video course introduces you to the basics of the instrument as well as more advanced techniques.
Get this sheet music book and start playing these famous songs yourself by clicking the image below:
Now that you’ve read these tips, do you know the difference between a Hang drum and a handpan? Discover the answer in this fascinating article exploring the historical roots of this musical instrument.
