Hansen was born in 1982 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. As a boy, his mother played him her record collection,which captured his vibrant imagination. Growing up in rural Wisconsin, he has well learned many problem-solving skills from his father. At the age of 10, he picked up the saxophone, which he played in school and various bands around the world. Looking for adventure, he moved to Colorado when he was 19. In 2002 he taught himself guitar and started song writing, a passion that has never ended.
At 22, Hansen traveled to Kauai, where he met a flute maker who peaked his interest in exotic, handmade flutes. The next year on, Hansen traveled all over the Americas and parts of Asia, absorbing local cultures and traditions, initially searching for unique flutes, that were functional pieces of art. After a crash course in bamboo harvesting in the jungles of Kauai in 2009, the first “Root Flutes” were created and the search changed into a quest for collecting materials ranging from bamboos and crystals, to elk antler sheds and exotic wood, fossilized mammoth tusk and other fossilized materials. Hansen has harvested these materials to create his one of a kind instruments as he traveled in Mexico, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, India, Kauai and Bali & more.
A self-taught artist inspired by ancient traditions of flute making, Daniel Hansen has never apprenticed with anyone. His teachers have been the works he has studied, the cultures he has experienced and his brief encounters of several hours with elderly flute masters during his travels. Hansen’s level of curiosity, his commitment to the craftsmanship of ancient music and his hunger to create and convey meaning through this unique medium, drive him to continue his quest of crafting these beautiful tools of vibration. His impulses and ambition come from an authentic search for further potential and greater possibilities of this craft. Practicing an art almost wholly lost in his generation, he is deeply grateful to all his teachers, past, present and future. That deep honoring is evident in every piece and performance he makes.
The act of playing these sacred flutes necessitates deep awareness of breath, drawing the player into the present. Conscious breath becomes sound, a kind of potent medicine. A vibration that reconnects us to our bodies and beings. To listen to Hansen play his handmade multi-tone flutes is to bear witness to a fundamental human undertaking: a ritual so pure and so absent from our modern, plugged in life.
Root Flute is currently touring the US & Internationally performing at Ceremonies, Rituals, Concerts, Music Festivals, Art Openings, Workshops & Retreats. Please contact 347-331-5324 for booking & information or email us at: activations@rootflute.com.
Root Flute is currently touring the US & Internationally performing at Ceremonies, Rituals, Concerts, Music Festivals, Art Openings, Workshops & Retreats. Please contact 347-331-5324 for booking & information or email us at: activations@rootflute.com.
