If you let it play while you read the information below, you will feel the music reach through to you, it works on the subconscious and is so mellow it is amazing

Sounding is a way of singing without words, a mystical process, which leads to deep rooted connections with that which Freud called the unconscious, or "dream world" according to Chinese composer Tan Dun. It is a form of singing that Russell Stone has been developing over the past 7 years.

Singing alongside tribes like the Maasai, in Northern Tanzania, Russell hopes to reconnect with ancient knowledge, wisdom and intuition that has been held in tribal cultures for thousands of years, and which has been gradually lost in the West. In that process of sounding and connection with ancestral tribes Russell believes he will learn new knowledge and understanding and a great sense of harmony, which he can then share.

if you want to help Russell get out to sound with the Maasai, breakdown barriers and develop greater cross cultural understanding, then please make a donation and say in your donation - sounding the massai.

The Livingstone Tanzania Trust (LT) is delighted to be working with Russell Stone on a cultural initiative that links the charity's aims of poverty alleviation with Russell's programme of original musical exploration, Sounding.

Breaking down social stereotypes and cultural misunderstanding is a vital part of the LTT's community development programs. Far too much development is top down and not nearly enough time is taken to understand the local cultures.

Music plays a vital part in all cultures and this has been an area that LTT has to date been unable to explore. Through collaboration with Russell Stone we are able to jointly investigate the possibility of establishing communication between cultures based on harmony and exchange. There are many who hold the view that whilst western culture has led the world in economic development, it has done so at the cost of its cultural identity. One aspect of this, that is becoming increasingly forced to the forefront, is the loss of sense of community and feeling of alienation especially for our young people. Much can be learnt from those cultures that have retained a strong sense of community. The role of music has historically been a method of intra-generational participation and through this the growth of personal and cultural identity and development of greater knowledge and enlightenment.

Russell's deep rooted understanding of music and of sounding has developed within him a strong desire to sing and sound with cultures that still retain an oral tradition in order to explore the depth of knowledge that is retained in these cultures around music and singing before it is overwhelmed by the external influences. To that end LTT want to introduce Russell to some of the remote communities in Tanzania to explore their musical heritage. The Barbaig, Iraqi, Gorowan and Maasai tribes are the target audience of this first experiment. The cultural significance of music cannot be under estimated in these communities. Music is used as an expression joy and happiness as well as sorrow, but also to calm the cattle, to send the children to sleep, help childless women improve their fertility and of course to pray to their traditional Gods. We want to talk, sing and sound with the communities, including their traditional healers to understand their differing perspectives.

We do not know what the impact will be, but the journey will be enlightening and the possibilities for future development significant. With the world changing so fast and urbanisation and globalisation impacting the traditional cultures, conducting this work is something that needs to be done sooner rather than later. As Russell says, ‘The evidence I have had from a variety of settings is that singing in this way, Sounding, has a profound and therapeutic impact on people. While I have an understanding of what is going on here, gained through feedback from those who have experienced this, fellow practitioners and available academic studies, I believe that by going to tribal cultures that still have a strong oral tradition and singing to them, I will be able to tap into a deep reservoir of human understanding that is not readily accessible.'

About Russell Stone...

For Russell humanity and spirituality lie at the heart of his three core life disciplines of music, psychotherapy, yoga.

Russell worked for 35+ years as a professional studio singer with a variety of performers and producers over the years including George Martin (producer for the Beatles), Tommy LiPuma, Michel Colombier, Henry Mancini, Ray Charles, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Adam Ant and Tony Bennett.

Through his work as an Integrative Counsellor he has built up a deep understanding of human behaviour, and through his MA research project in Transpersonal Counselling and Psychotherapy, looking at the effect of the voice on the mind/body/spirit complex, he has deepened his understanding of the psychology of music. At the heart of this is the vocal technique of Sounding, a way of singing without words, that Russell has developed over the past 8 years.

What happens when we sing, especially in group work, has led to his developing a new therapeutic tool, Sound Recovery Therapy (SRT) that has been shown to be of great benefit in working in the area of addiction, as Russell has done for the past year (http://www.soundrecoverytherapy.co.uk/).

He also now works with groups teaching Nada Yoga, the Yoga of Sound, blending contemporary Western Transpersonal philosophy with that of Yoga philosophy.

Just as Jazz has improvisation at its core, as does Qawwali, the mystical music of Sufi's, so Russell explores free-form improvisational/explorational chanting and Sounding going ‘off-piste' with spontaneous outflows that are non-verbal and express the unconscious. There is a synthesis between his musical roots and the Eastern influences that is being explored deeper in his work with At-Ma (http://www.at-ma.co.uk/), a musical project in collaboration with award winning multi-instrumentalist and film composer, ‘Bend It Like Beckam,' Craig Pruess and tabla player/ percussionist Tom Simenuer. A series of concerts are being held this year in various Festivals and within the Yoga community including the Mind-Body-Soul Festival and Yoga show at Olympia. His music now has a powerful healing property and deep psychological implications that he will be researching for a PhD.