A 71-second clip titled with a riddle, a UFO emoji, a salt shaker and an equals sign, holds a small but specific story about how a handpan melody gets made. The player, Kabeção, describes a flow called "La Sirenita" that took shape during his time in Sicily, shaped by a friend's playing at a retreat and reworked into something of his own. The clip is tagged to Saline Genna in Marsala, a place where sea water is evaporated into salt, and the setting and the title fit together.
According to the video's description, "La Sirenita" was one of several musical lines that came to life during his summer in Sicily. It was "heavily inspired" by chef Matteo Bono, whom the description calls a Michelin chef and a dear friend. Kabeção writes that the piece is "my own adaptation of the sounds I kept hearing this man play all the time during free time at my handpan retreat," and he admits he "got so addicted to play it" that he began playing it himself.
That sequence is worth slowing down on. A handpan is a tuned steel instrument with a fixed set of notes, so every player works inside the same small palette. What separates one flow from another is less the notes available than the order, the spacing and the phrasing a player chooses. Listening closely to someone else's habits, absorbing them through repetition, and then bending them toward your own hands is how many players arrive at a signature sound. Kabeção's account describes exactly that process: a melody heard casually over free days, memorized through play, and then transformed into a piece with its own identity.
The surrounding trip gives the clip its context. The description says he offered a three-day "Pantam Residence" with host Mato Francesco Sciacca, gave a concert at La Cava, and spent holiday days with family. The flow itself is credited as played on an Eb "La Sirena" instrument, with Yishama's official account credited in the description. The video was filmed by Adriana Genova, with audio credited to bobay_beats.
For the fuller picture, look at the rest of Kabeção's channel, where he posts performances, retreat footage and longer handpan material. The "La Sirenita" clip is brief, but it shows a useful habit for any player: pay attention to what you keep returning to, and let it become your own.
