Caisa for Hire

The caisa is a convex steel drum that provides an impressive and more affordable alternative to the Hang, a drum created by PANArt in Switzerland. This sound sculpture was created by Bill Brown and its sound resembles that of certain gongs and bells from around the world as well as steel pans. It is designed to be played with hands or short mallets. The upper half is a round dome of special steel with a diameter of 60cm, from which a metal plate is suspended by ropes. Three openings in the bottom permit attachment to a snare drum stand.

The caisa is made by hand by shaping the metal dome with a hammer, producing the basic vibration of each instrument. To bring out the best in each instrument the producer uses special techniques. In some cases, the sound-spaces are surrounded by small holes, the lower rim is acoustically angled and the tomes are given a specific bulge. Each caisa is a unique instrument with its very own visual and acoustic characteristics.

The caisa is available in 5 different tunings:

C pentatonic: A C' D' E' G' A' C'' D'' E''
F pentatonic: A C' D' F' G' A' C' D' F'
C minor pentatonic: C' D' Eb' G' Ab' C'' D'' Eb''
Arabic: C' Db' E' F' G' Ab' B' (=H') C''
Balinese: A Bb (A#) C' E' F' A' Bb' (A#') C''

N.B. Only the C pentatonic model is currently available to hire.

Comes with case, mallets, wooden floor stand and metal stand.