The Story of Soundings of the Planet

In 1979, Dean and Dudley Evenson decided to start their record label, Soundings of the Planet, as a voice for the planet and as a voice for peace. But their story began a lot earlier. They met in New York’s Lower East Side in 1968. Although a flute player since age 10, Dean had gone into science and just received his Masters’ Degree in Molecular Biology. Dudley had returned from living in Japan where she was learning photography. Their paths were destined to intertwine, and they have created music and media magic for half a century! In 1970, Dean and Dudley bought the first Sony Portapack (half-inch, black & white, portable video camera) sold in Manhattan and became pioneers in a media movement that continues to this day. During the ‘70s, they lived in a half-sized school bus and traveled the country documenting the new consciousness that was emerging. They called it their ‘decade of intentional poverty’. Dudley even gave birth to their daughter in the bus and of course videotaped it. It was a magical time. In 1972, Dean and Dudley took their video camera to Stockholm, Sweden to the first United Nations Conference on the Human Environment. There they met the 15 Native Americans who had been sent over by Stewart Brand, founder of the Whole Earth Catalog, to share their wisdom about Mother Earth. Dean and Dudley were so inspired by this idea about caring for the planet that they have dedicated their lives to sharing this important message. During the 1970s, Dean and Dudley captured a lot of what they were learning on their new video camera. They videotaped gurus and yogis, Native American wisdom keepers, healers, environmentalists, and others involved in creating a new paradigm. The ideas and philosophies from the East resonated with their souls and influenced their music as well. Dean began to play more long, slow tones on his flute, while Dudley discovered special harp tunings that lent themselves to making open, spacious music. In 1979, after a decade of bus living and hundreds of videotapes that had no distribution, they landed in Tucson, Arizona and attended a Ram Dass lecture where they had permission to record his talk and sell the tapes. Baba Ram Dass (aka Richard Alpert) had become known in spiritual circles for studying meditation with his guru in India and he had written Be Here Now, which was catching the attention of many young seekers. After the lecture, the Evensons were surprised when they received 50 orders for the Evening with Ram Dass tape. They suddenly realized people had audio tape players at home and were interested in this format. Thus, it occurred to them to put their video aside for a while and focus on making and distributing cassette tapes of their music that people could actually take home and play. So that’s exactly what they did. In addition to the Ram Dass lecture, they decided to make a recording of the music that was coming through them at the time. One night, Dean camped in the desert and the next morning he set up a pair of stereo microphones and recorded the birds at dawn. He brought the field recordings back to their makeshift studio and Dean played flute while Dudley sang with her harp while listening to the recording of morning birdsong. Their friend Jonathan Kramer came in and added his sonorous cello tones and they created their first album called Desert Dawn Song. Now over four decades later, Dean and Dudley Evenson continue to produce popular recordings sharing their message of Peace Through Music. They have also produce documentary, art, and nature music videos. As of 2020, they have produced over 90 albums and videos which are streaming worldwide. Puppet narration by Orauck Dickinson (aka Elijah Evenson) ----------------------- Thank you for subscribing to SOUNDINGS MINDFUL MEDIA:    / soundingsmindfulmedia   Listen to Soundings on all streaming platforms and check out our latest multi-media releases: https://Soundings.com https://linktr.ee/SoundingsofthePlanet Follow Soundings of the Planet & Dean Evenson: --YouTube: (Soundings of the Planet)    / soundingsoftheplanet   --Facebook: (Soundings of the Planet)   / soundingsoftheplanet   --Facebook: (Dean Evenson)   / dean.evenson.3   --Instagram: (Soundings of the Planet)   / soundingsoftheplanet   --Instagram: (Dean Evenson)   / dean.evenson   Video by Dean & Dudley Evenson