Flight from Mt Everest, along the Himalayas to Kathmandu. Emily and Dennis Havlena. Summer 2025.

June 27, 2025

Gotta get to town, Cheboygan, MI for supplies dodging trees after the mother of all ice-storms.

Uncle Mark teaching Emily how to play, “Waltzing Matilda”

FIDDLE & PIPE TUNES I CREATED 40 YEARS AGO ON A RADIO SHACK "COLOR COMPUTER" USING "MUSICA" PROGRAM

Last Chance - fCFCD tuning capoed 2 frets up to "G".

11 months vs 11 years

Wonderful fun with music in northern Michigan

New idea: octave-higher Kora

Climbing "Precipice Trail" in Acadia National Park, Maine

Travel Video to Seou, South Korea- 2016

Simple Cigar Box Fiddle

"You Ain't Going Nowhere"

34 mile "short-cut" through Pigeon River State Wilderness in N. MI today

N'kora - Ten course, 2 strings per course, Kora to "N'kora" conversion

DIY Akonting - a Banjo ancestor from Senegal/Gambia Africa

"Battle of New Orleans" played on the actual battlefield

"The Ballad of Saint Anne's Reel" - bunch of us friends having fun in northern Michigan

OUD made from a Guitar - sound sample to accompany my article about this conversion

Bala-Pan: Balafon like, plays similar to Hand-Pan. Short video to accompany DIY article

STABILIZED VERSION of our bounce down SHAFER CANYON in Utah

$60 DIY Kora - short sound sample. See my note below.

Cello to Guitar conversion - Sam King playing "Duncan Idaho" on "guitello"

Flying over the area I live in near Cheboygan, Michigan

"GONI -PAN" -- SIMULATES HAND-PAN (Halo, Hang etc.) -- CAN BE TUNED TO ANY HAND-PAN SCALE

HARP-KORA 2 - Sound Sample for my webpage construction article

Senegal Videos: Mali Blues, Keur Moussa, Baye Fall Instrument Making Workshop etc.

EXPERIMENT - Balafon/Marimba keys set up in Hand Pan scale & vaguely similar configuration

Kalifa Jengi (Mali Blues) - at Vounda-Bar Goethe Institut Dakar, Senegal

Spontaneous music at my workshop in Dakar, Senegal - Modou Gaye on left

Very basic Celtic harp using a Mountain Dulcimer body

Simple "Kalimba" with notes configured same as a Hang Drum

our bounce down impressive SHAFER CANYON in Utah

Catfish John -- northern Michigan version

Tennis Racquet Banjo - tune: Georgia Railroad

Home-made Cello Banjo sound sample - Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine

Propane-tank "Hank drum" with pitch & scale the same as a Pantheon-Steel Halo

Zen Tambour -- descendant of hank drum

Hank Drum (made from a propane-tank) -- Ake Bono scale -- Dennis Havlena

3 instruments from 1 converted guitar - 5-string banjo, bazoukey & 8-string tenor guitar

HOW TO MAKE A CELLO BANJO (sound-sample)

PVC tubing instrument configured like a Halo (or Hang) drum - in Ake Bono scale

Gourd Banjo samples -- "Old Maui" & "New Railroad" in clawhammer style

Home-made Esraj (read "more info", on right)

Thoughts on playing Hang Drum scales on Stringed-Kalimba etc

World's Biggest Rain-stick

2nd Tune - Original Propane Tank Hank Drum by Dennis Havlena

Bass Hank-Drum Made from Propane Tank - Dennis Havlena

Tambiro made from a small camping type LP tank

The Original Propane Tank Hank Drum - by Dennis Havlena

Stringed Instrument that plays like a hang drum

DIY PVC Pipe Instrument -- plays like a hang drum

a few DIY homemade musical instruments from Dennis Havlena