A newsletter for the Portland area Didjeridu player......Sept  2000 Volume 6 Issue 9

Life is so Long, Friends Become Family

by Ed Drury

Suddenly, this small space in the midst of the cacophony of sound that is the Oregon Country Fair "groove" opened up and seemed huge. Walking short distances in the Country Fair brings one into different realms. But on this day, the distance to the next discovery, though only a few feet, was quite dramatic. I saw a young man sitting cross legged with a pair of head phones on. But the strange thing was that the headphones weren't connected to wires, but rather long runs of flexible tubing much like the tubing found in automotive heaters or in hospital connected to breathing apparatus. My eyes followed the tubing to a beautiful white haired lady who was sweeping one of these dream pipes back and forth before two funnels which were plugged into the other end of the two lengths of flexible tubing. I watched, intranced, as this beautiful woman blended intricate rhythms with astonishing vocal harmonies with no obvious effort. This device, I was later to learn, is called a "headbone phone". Allan, me and the "Head Bone Phone".

Susan and Allan in 1999  The woman I was watching that day was Susan O'Terra and the skinny young man was Allan Shockley. Over the years, I would get to know them both a little better and the Northern Sonoran Dreampipe even more. The pipes are made from the Agave flower stalk. Native Southwest agave plants send up a flowering stalk at the end of a 35-65 year life span. The stalks shoot straight up, or grow in gentle spirals and curves, occasionally with large flared bases. Allan makes the pipes and Susan paints the finest art on the finest of them.

  A few years before I met Allan, his friend Mark Woody had the original idea to create an instrument from un-split dead agave flower stalks. But Mark was uninterested in producing instruments. It was left to Allan to then began to develop and perfect the instrument. Subsequent pipes revealed unique characteristics - such as the lovely harmonics. They play with less effort and were more responsive as Allan took the craft into the realm of art. Allan has made over 2000 of these instruments since he started. In the years that followed, I saw more and more people making didjeridus out of agave. Allan's pipes, however, stand out for several reasons. Perhaps the most important is in the degree of craftsmanship. The interior walls of his pipes follow the natural exterior shape of the stalk and is nearly if not as smooth as the exterior wall. Another tip off is the use of hand cut turquoise chips to inlay natural imperfections from drying or cracking. Allan's pipes are finished using a clear, non-toxic, environmentally friendly product which is suitable for use in food containers. And they finished inside and out.

 Over the years, I've collected some of Allan's best pipes. Several are painted by Susan O'Terra, inlayed with turquoise by Allan and are what Allan calls, "Ancient Ones". Ancient Ones are the oldest, hardest, and thickest of all agave pipes. They are harvested after 3-5 years of aging in their harsh environment of extreme heat, torrential rain, and episodic freezes which will destroy lesser stalks. These stalks have the most dramatic curves, flares and really big bells. Allan will often use turquoise to fill the holes on these. Some of them have what Allan calls , "spirals". Looking down one of these pipes, the "spirals" or bends in the stalk remind one of a riffle barrel.

 Every aspect of Allan's craftsmanship, harvesting technique and stalk selection is tied to his personal philosophies about playing, life and spiritual connections to the universe. As a teacher, Allan stresses the higher sounds or harmonics by having his students visualize a circle of tone which is inversely proportional to the size of the mouth cavity during the cycle of breathing. "Low tones come from deep in the body, higher ones from the face", explains Allan. It is during the "squeezing" or constriction of the mouth cavity that the tone rises and the breath is snatched. Allan's "circle of tone" or "circle of sacred sounds" is tied to the Vedic techniques which center around the prana, or the breath of life and creation. The style of playing which Allan has honed from years of practice and the construction of his dreampipes are married to his world view by his intention. So there are many layers to what Allan does : performance, teaching, instrument making and healing. All these layers are built upon the basis of his personal integrity.

 Allan talks about a "transfer" from air to sound and it being "pure". Putting a lot of emphasis on the "higher" harmonic tones, Allan ties personal philosophy together with performance and vibrational healing to form a complete package that is the Northern Sonoran Dreampipe. And in the process developed (with help from numerous friends) a nomenclature for the Dreampipe that is the jargon of it's followers. For example, "ancient ones". These stalks have been lying on the desert floor for years. They are usually quite thick and heavy. Some match the weight of a comparable sized eucalyptus didjeridu. They often have many "spirals" or bends and twists in the hollow. Many are a darker color and these pipes are favored by better players for their more authentic sound. Pipes which have, in abundance, the full range of harmonics and a certain "something" may be called "medicine pipes". These often have interesting colouration and wood grain variances. "Extreme" anything means exactly that. Extreme bells are dramatic flares out to a bell of 10 inches or greater. Extreme spirals may twist and turn three and four times per foot. "Dad's private stash" are pipes which Allan wants to hang on to for awhile. They may have been ones which he performed with or just "too good" to part with until Allan has had a chance to fully evaluate all their voices.

 Allan is many things to all his friends. But to me he remains, for all his spirituality and wisdom, one of the funniest human beings on the planet It was Saturday morning at the country fair, 1999. Allan, Dave, Rio and I are all looking for the appropriately named "lost and found" booth and after being directed all over the place, find ourselves at the White Bird booth - proving that all who are lost are not wandering. While Rio is desperately hoping that someone turned in his missing camera, Allan turns to me and muses, "You loose something at the fair every year." He continues, "I've been coming here for years and every year I loose something. But it's worth it. Even if it's your girlfriend, it's worth it. And I should know, that's happened to me twice." I just lost it myself at that point. The truth, no matter how much it hurts, will someday make you laugh. I'd seen Allan each of those years. I got the joke... 

 For me, humor is very important. But there is that aura of spirituality which is ever present not only in Allan himself, but in his music, his instruments, his friends and his life. Dave Crowder talks about Allan on his web page :

Allan Shockley is the most spiritual man I've ever met. He's an American Indian who suffered an abusive father alongside the obvious societal abuse that all native aboriginals must face. He has used his past to strengthen his conviction that the power of love will conquer all problems be they large or small and he lives this love with every cell of his body. He accepts everyone that comes to his house with open arms and a hug. He often can be seen teary eyed as he spends time with his closest friends. Before our Sunday evening dinner, Al said one of his typical prayers where he thanked the great spirit for his dream and our collective dream that brought all of us together at that one spot. He talked of his realization that we all create our own realities, that if we have inner demons that haunt us, then we will see and notice horrible people who do things that we can't accept. In other words, our outer or external realities are reflections of our inner nature. He noticed that his own inner peace had matured since last year, and he saw it reflected in our faces. We were all pure in this setting, and no one present was negative.

 Al reflected on something that happened to him while delivering Gaton to the airport Monday. He had parked outside in that zone where cars left unattended receive tickets. Al, being the habit forming sort, is compelled to do this same illegal routine even after repeated warnings. So, as he walked Gaton to her terminal, he sensed a problem brewing outside. It kept nagging at him all the way to the terminal and on his way back to the truck. He saw the truck unencumbered walking out of the airport and felt a sense of relief as he sat in the driver's seat and turned the key. Instantly, a large hand smacked onto the windshield and a deep commanding voice proclaimed to get out of the car with his hands behind his back. As he got out, he noticed the officer wouldn't look him straight in the face. The officer said, "Did you know this vehicle has an expired registration?" Al said yes, that he was extremely busy with the goings-on of this previous week, setting up the party. He held nothing back as is Al's way and offered peaceful loving intent. The officer continued with a belligerent tone stating that Al didn't have convincing proof that he actually owned the vehicle, but continued to avoid direct eye contact. Finally, when the officer came to point where he had to make a decision on whether to handcuff him, he finally looked into Al's eyes and of course saw loving intent. He let him off with a warning.

 -excerpted with permission : http://www.oneimage.com/~mcdave/al'sbday2.html

 Randy Graves offers insight into just how Allan affects the people around him. He's definitely more than just a pipe maker and instrument seller.

" Allan Shockley is one of the most giving people I've ever met. I owe him a huge debt of gratitude as he was the the first person who took me seriously and encouraged me that I had something to offer. And then there's the small matter of keeping me playing ultra-fine instruments of his. Two in particular that I own could never be replaced by another instrument of any material, and have been desired by many others who have played them, from American beginners to Aboriginal masters.

 By opening his home to the didgeridoo fans of America and creating his annual party, Allan is responsible for bringing together a huge part of the didgeridoo community. We all came together because of him, and continue to honor him when we're together.

 Thanks, brother."

  That eye contact that Dave writes about is something which is discovered by anyone who meets Allan in person. It also comes across in his video, "The Art of the Didjeridu". The Art of the Didjeridu is an instructional video which features performances by several artists at the end. But the majority of the video, conveys well what it's like to spend time with Allan one on one. It covers what Allan calls, "the teachings", which focus on his circle of tone. Each sound is part of the breath cycle and Allan expands on his theories about these sounds and where in the body they are created.

 Another project which Allan takes a great deal of pride in is his band Mandala. They can be heard at : http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/121/mandala_01.html.  My favorite track is one called "Slow Deliberate Sex". Try it, what can it hurt! The band currently is going really deep into guitar, percussion and didj grooves to go very deep in their trance invocation potential. Allan seems the most happy with the current instrumentation and focus which I've seen him over the years.

 He's also making some of the best pipes ever. I last visited with Allan in mid July and played dozens of pipes. He had a good supply of some very inexpensive shorter pipes which really perform well. These where F, F#'s and G's. Just amazing, except that Allan's pipes have been amazing me for around eight years now. My collection of them grows and then shrinks as I pass along great ones to students and friends only to acquire even better ones a year later. And every year there has been a better one out there. And every year, someone I've sent to Allan comes back very pleased with a pipe they feel is the best. Secretly, though, each of us knows that we have the best one. That's probably the most amazing thing about Allan. He gives people more than an instrument, but a sense of something special. And as Dave Crowder alluded to, a connection to complete and unconditional loving intention.

Visit Northern Sonoran Dreampipes at : http://www.sonoran.com/shockley/index.htm

Check out Allan's MP3 files at : http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/121/mandala_01.html

Questions about this and other articles should be sent to Ed Drury

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