Story
Instruments made by hand
Story
My name is Hans Houkes from Stonewhistle. I run a small workshop in the Netherlands where we work with 3 people and a lot of love. Our instruments are made by hand, one by one, out of clay, water, fire and air to blow, of course…
How it all started…
At the age of 15, I discovered my passion for crafting small pendant-style ocarinas. I spent many years perfecting this art, but as time went on, my interests evolved. In the past 15 years, my focus shifted towards creating new instruments. I aimed to design easy-to-play, low-sounding instruments that resonate deeply with the heart.
I drew inspiration from ancient clay instruments found all over the world, with a particular fascination for the Huaca, developed by Sharon Rowell. My journey into the world of sound was further enriched by my friend Alan Tower and many others, who helped me to shape my own vision on sound, harmonics, and their positive effects on people.
This exploration led me to create not only unique instruments but also random omnidirectional harmonic sound installations. These installations have spread their beautiful sounds in various places across the globe, resulting in some permanent installations that continue to be enjoyed by many today.
Innato History
The Innato is an innovation based on the Huaca invented in 1980 by Sharon Rowell.
Rafael Bejarano, a Mexican sound shaman, learned about the Huaca through Alan Tower, who in 1999 introduced him to the inventor Sharon Rowell, to learn the sculpting method she began developing in 1980. In 2015 Rafael died tragically on a spiritual retreat in Egypt at the age of 41, a devastating event for the tribe of people who experienced and followed his sound work.
After hearing about Rafael’s death I contacted Alan Tower and soon a collaboration began to further Rafael’s legacy. Rafa often played his Huaca close, such that the sound landed softly between the closed eyes of listeners, for a connective 3D sonic journey. Just before his death he and Tower had completed a first prototype of what they called an Immersion Flute, to better deliver Rafa’s surround sound experience to people.
The Innato is an innovation based on this instrument, designed to cover people in sound waves wafting down from above the head. The big breakthrough came when I found out that direct contact with the cranium created the effect that Rafael was going for. It took over three years to perfect the instrument’s design and tuning. A new Innate harmony instrument was born…
All of this would not have been possible without the never ending motivation from Alan and the indispensable tips and tricks I received from Sharon during the two times we visited her in Berkley, a few years before she died.
While offering musicians an open architecture to explore, the Innate Flute also offers non-musicians to be able to play the instrument easily and beautifully with no training. It is a classic “Innate harmony instrument” like others developed by the resonancegroup.us, and best exemplified today by the Hang or Handpan.
The Innato is dedicated to Rafael Bejarano and his legacy of offering sound to humanity as both a healing and life expansion modality.
A few years ago I did a lecture on the history of my instruments in Auroville, India. You can watch it back here:
