The Didjeri News, Portland's Didjeridu Newletter

December 1998 An interview with Allen Smith by Ed Drury

[Allen] The typical story I've told for this question has been as follows: I found myself invited to someone's house to hear Carlos Nakai and others jam. As I arrived at Alan Shockley's home, I found that Carlos did not show, but instead, there were about a dozen didgeridoo players going to town in his small living room. The place was reverberating with sound and I experienced a strange sensation in my body that was similar to the onset of an "out of body" state. I instantly loved the sound and knew I would learn to play whatever this instrument was that I was hearing.

To make a short story longer, I've always been a powerful night time dreamer. In many of my dreams I experience sounds that go well beyond what has ever been produced in physical reality. In dreams, I've had the kingdom of heaven and nature sing to me. I've heard my "name axiom" sung to me by a beautiful Native American shaman woman. I've seen sound & heard light. In all of these experiences runs a common thread of a wonderful underlying drone of the earth with the joy & lightness of the heavens. In physical reality, the didjeridu comes closer to providing the sound of the earth than anything else. There is a degree of accuracy to the statement that the sound of the didge is very close to the sound of my own essence. My goal now is to rediscover myself partly through the combination of musical sounds that creates the knowing of "heaven & earth" as one.

When my "name axiom" was sung to me, I was lifted up by the sound waves and suspended in a state of ecstasy in experiencing my own vibration. There will come increasingly more times when my essence will assist others in experiencing theirs through the music, and this is why I play the didgeridoo. It is for the joy of reconnecting and freshly creating ourselves. It's fun!

[Ed] Tell me about your CD, "Clarion". Are the compositions results of these dreams you mentioned? Where does the title come from?

[Allen] Yes Ed, some of the music that I produce is a filtered version of what I have experienced through dreams and heightened perceptive states. After all, the creativity did channel through me, so what else could it be? I will have to learn much more about music production and really immerse myself into the process to truly access and be able to reproduce sound at the level that I have experienced it inwardly. I have heard equivalencies as bits and pieces in music by Steve Roach, Tangerine Dream, David Parsons, Richard Souther & others. The indescribable parts are what really make the music beautiful. It is going to be up to me to put it all together to hear it in this realm the way I desire it.

As for the name of the CD, "Clarion. A Call To Awaken."; it came from a dream also and the things that are most important to me. In the dream where "heaven and earth" sang to me, there were also 40 foot tall white swans swimming across a lake calling to me with a name that sounded like "Clarion". This dream came in a time period when I was really beginning to open up to a larger picture of reality, so hence,---"A Call To Awaken."

The music on the CD was created quite spontaneously without knowing where it would lead to. I saw the aboriginal "Dream Time Dancers" when they came to Tucson and I experienced that they create without a lot of pretense and need for perfection. Since then, I've discovered that if I push the boundaries while letting go of perfection that, yes, I do get mistakes; but I also get higher highs in the music. A deeper access to that "flowing" state is achieved without the worry. My future creations will rely more on this. The very fist song on the CD was really fun for me. I'm a novice Native American Flute player but really like it. When I recorded the flute in that piece I did it the very first take and just "winged it". It wasn't perfect but I didn't care. I had so much feeling doing it that that is what I wanted to capture and not necessarily the perfection. Even so, many people tell me that it sounds great and never seem to notice the imperfections that I as the creator am aware of. Isn't that the way it often goes as an artist?

[Ed] You mention the music of Steve Roach, who happens to be an accomplished didjeridu player as well. Have you been influenced by other didjeridu players either directly or by listening to recordings? Do you have some favorite recordings in the area of didjeridu soloists?

[Allen] I have listened to many of the top USA players but my playing more closely emulates a mixture between Steven Kent and David Hudson. In the beginning of my playing I listened (and copied best I could) to those two guys. About 4 years into my playing I began to seriously realize that I didn't have my own playing style, at least so I thought, due to the emulation of others. So I began departing from that focus to find my own way. It has been difficult because I love just about everyone that I hear! I can hardly help myself to attempt to duplicate what others are doing. I have found my own way though, and it includes learning from others. It's a good thing! Here is what I'm loving to create in my own playing now:
1.) Rhythms that sound like there is no place to take a breathe and that are very fast and hypnotic. Trance induction is cool --gets me out my limited thinking.
2.) Very energetic playing that is wild, sometimes unpredictable, but comes back to a steady rhythm that provides the glue to hold it together. It provides for vital, raw, vibrant energy.
3.) Seemlessly combining didge with other instrumentation as Roach does with ever increasing sensitivity to the overall sound. This really gets me feeling centered and clear just like when in touch with the knowing of the interconnectedness of all that is. Whether it be drone, rhythm or texturing. Gosh.........I love it all. It makes me feel desirous to play right now.

[Ed] Apart from playing and recording music, are there other applications for the didjeridu which you have discovered or developed? I'm thinking in terms of meditation, massage adjuncts, and community or family sharing. Do you have a regular circle of fellow didj players you connect with?

[Allen] Tucson has a very large didge player population; why, I'm not exactly sure, but things seem to stem from Alan Shockley's influence here where he makes his dream pipes. With all these players here you'd think that I'd be part of a didge/drumming group, but I'm not.

I've been quite imersed in the realms of self discovery the past few years. What I have learned is that one of the quickest ways to discover yourself is to tell yourself the truth. Cutting through the denials, the "I don't knows", and the rest of the notions we base our lives on is something our society in particular is resistant to doing. If you listen to many of todays top spiritual leaders; they are all saying the same thing, different words, but still the same. "Tell the truth, then feel what is there as energy without the labels.". Removing the labels allows energies(true feelings- not emotions) to move and become fluid. Our crystallized patterns break away and we become freer to experience life by flowing with it & not resisting or holding it. We can let go of years worth, perhaps even lifetimes of pent up feelings or cellular memories when we allow things to be felt as they are. We can heal ourselves by having the courage to "feel" ourselves. Tell the truth.

I see the didgeridoo as a useful tool in this arena. Very often, sound/music bypasses our thinking and induces emotional movement within us. Since most people are not very familiar with the sound of the didge, it is hard to "label" with preconceived ideas, memories, etc.. So the didge is very potent in enabling us to experience what it is like to "feel the energy" without labels. It gives us experiential knowledge so we can then extrapolate that knowing into other areas of our life to do the same thing there. The energy of a didjeridu well played can provide vital, raw, primal energy to our experience. This is a very powerful thing even without getting into the details of vibrational healing.

My wife & I have been playing in a spiritual gathering called "The Dream. A gathering of equals.", facilitated by Keith Varnum all over the country. During these 4 day gatherings, we have witnessed many times where people were "stuck" in their personal process and just not getting what was being presented to themselves by themselves because of all of their labels. Audrey & I would play didge(& other instruments) in an intuitive manner and this always helps to free the energy of their stuckness.

We are now doing this for individuals in our home. We our now providing "Dual Didgeridoo Sonic Massages" that are an "Out of Mind" experience. The receiver lays on the floor while we intuitively use many of our musical toys & didges to "play"around them. This is very shamanic at times. We also are incorporating the sound equipment of my home studio to give the experience the feel of a personal concert for an hour or more. I can even record the session. Everyone says that it is a very powerful sound experience and some receivers become quite emotional or otherwise affected. The "patient" will be the only one that can decide if it was healing for them. They have to give that part to themselves. We provide the opportunity energetically for them to do just that. Our intent, imagination, intuition, love, energy & skill using our instruments provides this.

In the future, I'm looking into combining our playing with a sound healing system called "BETAR" by Peter Kelly. It is a 10 transducer vibration table inside a 10' tall hexagon structure surrounded by a 12 channel music system with bio-feedback all monitored by computer. All of these tools are there to assist what we can do for ourselves when we are ready. You can look them up on the web. They already have 20 of my CD's and say that the "BETAR RIDE" is phenomenal with my music. I can hardly wait to experience it myself.

If anyone would like to contact me about our music(2 recordings and/or live play) or about the Sonic Massages, you may phone: (520) 743-7339 or email at: asmith@theriver.com ..

By the way, if you are interested in knowing more about the 4 day gatherings you can call "Keith Varnum" at 1-800-736-7367 for a free tape or chat. You can e-mail him at: keith@thedream.com ..

[Ed] What kind of didjeridus are you using? I was curious if you were using dreampipes or if you make your own instruments, or? How do you select your instruments?

[Allen] I have 12 didges now and about 6 are the real thing. All of them, were acquired through Al Shockley except for 1 that I picked up at the Tucson 4th Ave. St. Fair when "Inlakesh" came into town selling their music & didges. It was a pleasure to meet them by the way. Really personable & great players. The others are all the "dream pipe" variety that either Al or myself made. I acquired more stalks to make my own and found 1 incredibly bent up stalk which will be a challenge to make & hopefully fun to play! There is one "Aspen" didge that I bought from Murphy Jackson which is unusual and a scream to play. How he hollowed an Aspen tree out I haven't a clue. Does anyone know where he is? When we met, quite by guided intervention, it was like meeting a soul brother; then he was gone. Our playing styles are very similar & we even looked like we could be brothers.

I've never spent more than $400.00 on a didge so that takes me out of the "best in the world" category of instruments but I enjoy what I have. How they play is more important to me but I'm planning on painting up some new ones that will be eye catchers too. Since my company is called "Rainbow Didge Creations", I desire to paint a rainbow didge in extremely bright & vivid colors delicately fading from one color to the next. Can anybody out there help me with this affordably? Another idea is to make a "crop circle patterns" didge and then meditate with it.

I often play rhythms that require very fast diaphragm control so I tend to choose a didge that doesn't have a lot of back pressure, and the vocals go through well also. Hitting the toots higher than the base tone of didge is something I enjoy so I make sure that I can hit at least 3 notes higher with relative ease. There are always some give & takes with getting everything I want in one didge so I don't get too picky about it.

[Ed] Allen, what about other recordings you have done?

Yes, my other recordings :
1.) Gary Evans(Flugelhorn) & Kevin Christopher(Keyboards/programming), a dynamic duo from the Seattle area, invited me to play a cut on their latest CD called "Higher Ground". I sent them an ADAT tape with didge & congas on it & they finished it off so well they used it as the title piece.
Contact Gary& Kevin at richman888@aol.com.
2.) Peter Spoecker's "Didgeridoo USA" project, I created a short, lively piece called "Gettin Jiggy".
3.) Music from "Clarion. A Call to Awaken." is coming out on a video tape filmed by ametuer naturalist Mike Cochran of Tucson. The film is about Grizzly Bears & other wildlife of Montana that is extrmely endarged & it's purpose is to raise awareness. It is called "All The Kings Horses" & is still under production.