Ruly Mix: Danny Stewart-Smith

Danny Stewart-Smith is back this month with another great Ruly Mix! This month’s free download, “The Flow,” is designed to help you relax in your outdoor oasis.

Tell us about the sound in “The Flow.”

The Flow was composed with relaxation and spiritual healing in mind. My mother is an alternative therapist and practices Whole Body Focusing, a method of de-stressing and attuning with oneself for physical, mental, and spiritual well being. I wrote the music to kind of reflect the inner journey one might experience when focusing, and also to reflect the fact that as human beings we are all deeply rooted in nature and the cycles of the planet and that these are things we should not forget, hence the natural sounds featured in it. One part features Shinto Monks chanting and also a Japanese singing bowl which is a large metal bowl that is gently banged during Shinto prayer to resonate with all natural entities and call the attention of all the gods. It is very beautiful, and when I experienced it I just had to get a recording of it! That part of the music to me symbolizes breathing, an unconscious act that all living entities do, a prerequisite and innate function of life. The piano part is kind of just improvised, hence it is organic, and the timing of the chord changes and the percussion and beat is not uniform, again like many things in nature. It changes as it bubbles along and evolves with each twist or turn much like a stream…at least that is what I was aiming at! But whether it means all that to you or not does not matter so much, most importantly the music is there for you to enjoy, to relax and think deeper thoughts to, away from the daily grind and beyond the confines of modern working life.

I also asked Danny if he could give us any insight into unique Japanese garden features, like rock gardens or bonsai. His honest answer was “No.” but he did have these wonderful pictures of a beautiful public park in Tokyo to share with us.

This park is located about 15 minutes from central Tokyo and is only a 20 minute walk from my house. It’s centered around a dual level pond of median size which features a single step fall the spans the breadth of the pond. It boasts many Koi, and is overlooked by a traditional Kominkan style building. The building itself which was built only a couple of decades back, is open to public, and may be reserved for private parties. On occasion traditional tea ceremonies can be attended there.

To one side of the pond is a small water fall that feeds it, as far as I understand a network of pumps cycle the water around the pond and back through the fall. The pond as the centerpiece, is flanked with white and pink azalea, maple and crocus studded paths that create a rich array of colors in spring and summer, and rich shocks of red and orange (from the maples) in autumn.

I don’t know the name of this style of landscaping, but as far as I understand it, the ponds are meant to represent ocean and the stones, rolling hills and mountains. There is also another style of Japanese garden which instead employs white gravel to represent the ocean.

It is an excellent place to relax and what’s more it is free to enter. As you can see from the photos hardly a building can be seen from within the park. There are many other parks like this in suburban Tokyo, and I really appreciate having such parks within walking distance of my home.

As an example of the rock garden landscaping Danny mentions, I will share these photos of the rock garden at the Japanese embassy here in Washington.

Whether your garden is as lovely as the Japanese gardens above or is little more than a patch of weeds, Danny’s music is sure to help you enjoy your greenspace.  Click the picture below to play or right-click to download. (If the picture is not working for you, you can also download by clicking here.)

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Ruly License: You may download and play any Ruly Mix song for your own personal use so long as you keep the voiceover tags intact indicating the name of the artist and that the song came from beruly.com. Businesses may also download this song to play as background music in their establishments so long as the voiceover tags remain intact. Any other uses of the song (such as in videos, etc.) must be pre-approved by the musician. Questions about license permissions can be addressed to info@beruly.com.

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Have a great weekend!

Previous Ruly Mix artists: Danny Stewart-Smith (“Insights”), Danny Stewart-Smith feat. Evin Gibson, Joe Hanley, Jamie Smith, Rajiv Agarwal