For
years, decades in fact, Canyon Records has remained at the forefront
of the Sedona / Desert Southwest New Age music scene. I use the term
“New Age” loosely here because the music Canyon releases
is often filled with hypnotic imagery of Native American Indian related
music filtered through a wide range of instrumental and vocal music
that has subsequently earned the name New Age among others. Of course,
most Americans don’t really know too much about traditional American
Indian culture and music anyway so we have Canyon Records to thank
for much of the music that depicts native American culture in these
“modern times.” Some of the best Native American music Canyon
produces is often heard as a cross between American Indian and World
Beat music and that’s the sound right here at the core of Dancing
Into Silence—a 2010 CD release on Canyon that features flute
genius R.Carlos Nakai in the recording studio with harp guitar great
William Eaton and percussionist Will Clipman. You can almost see the
smoke signals rising over the desert Southwest but this peaceful,
American cross cultural effort offers up a rewarding musical peace
pipe that takes you sky high. R. Carlos has brought his Native American
Indian flute sound far and wide since he released his million selling
Canyon Trilogy back in 1989 and here, once again paired with
guitar conceptualist William Eaton, Nakai continues to break new ground
with the meditative, peaceful vibes of Dancing Into Silence. When
it comes to the harp guitar, Eaton is a fretboard genius whose self-designed
instruments and beguiling guitar sounds are at once futuristic and
ancient. Clipman’s exotic, ethnic tinged percussion fits in perfectly
here. Clocking in at exactly 60 minutes, the 14 track Dancing Into
Silence is a stunning sonic achievement designed to soothe your
inner spirit and take beyond the happy, hunting grounds and into a
deep inner space. A near perfect CD of meditative, calming soundscapes,
Dancing Into Silence features appealing cover art and is filled
with in depth liner notes on the making of this musical work of art
by album producer Robert Doyle. www.william-eaton.com
/ www.rcarlosnakai.com
/ www.willclipman.com
/ www.CanyonRecords.com
WILLIAM EATON SPEAKS TO MWE3.COM
ABOUT DANCING INTO SILENCE
Here are some thoughts about our latest CD Dancing Into Silence.
Going into the project I had something entirely different in mind.
I believed that we would be taking our musicality and improv techniques,
honed from years of live performance, to another level. I had imagined
interesting and intricate guitar lines and chord progressions to support
R.C. flute lines, coupled with the energetic rhythms of Will Clipman's
world percussion palette. After two days of recording everything changed.
Robert Doyle, our producer, wanted less. And less. And still less.
More space. No melodic guitar lines. Simple. This was a difficult
challenge. It is not easy to "do nothing." Your first instinct
is to be innovative and creative, and showcase some technical proficiency.
The new challenge was in the listening. Listening to R.C.'s flute
and the texture of Will's percussion sounds. In past recordings I've
always approached the process in this way, but this was a deeper listening.
The guitar response was secondary, almost as an after thought. Simple
ideas. Just a strummed chord or a repeating arpeggio. And in addition
to listening to my collaborators, it was equally important to listen
to the space surrounding each note. With the exception of one song,
all of the recorded pieces were played in open tunings, to give added
resonance and sympathetic vibration to all the intervals and doubled
notes, especially with the open non-fretted strings and chords. I
also used my new double neck harp guitar on many of the songs, to
give the suggestion of a call and response from two different guitars.
If you listen carefully you can hear this, since they're each panned
about seventy five percent to left and right.
As we proceeded with this intent, the focus began to accentuate the
special timbral qualities of the various stringed instruments played
on this recording, with additional awareness placed on where on the
string a pick was used, or the tips of fingers, to give different
attack and sound quality.
As in meditation, the ego drops from the process. There's no pride
or sense of achievement in the result, just an observation or awareness,
and being within the music, and allowing some 'true nature' to be
expressed. One could say that there is a feeling about the music,
and still, a conversation among friends.
If a listener can follow a similar process in becoming less busy,
less internal dialogue, and finding a quiet space within, this music
can perhaps provide a sonic soundscape for the journey. As one of
my teacher's once remarked, "eternity is all around us, within
us, right now."
