Shamanix Brings Peruvian Shaman Influence to Hip Hop
by Tim Wenger
Shamanix is hip hop with a truly deep meaning. After spending time with Shamans in Peru, Matt Toussaint integrated their teachings and his experiences into the music he creates in Denver. CMB caught up with Toussaint to get the lowdown.
CMB: Tell us about Peru. That must have been a crazy experience.
S: That’s quite a story, and yes, a totally crazy experience. It really began long before actually going to Peru. In my late teens I had a very powerful awakening to spirit that changed my life substantially. Coincidentally, it was right around this time that I was introduced to a style of hip hop music that also completely blew my mind. And so I began this parallel spiritual and artistic journey, not knowing that I was being guided the whole time. In late 2007, I had a vision in which a spirit showed me that I needed to go to Peru, find a shaman and participate in ceremony. Six months later I was in the jungle town of Iquitos. This was the first time I had ever traveled outside the country. I was 23, naïve and scared. But once in ceremony, things began to make rapid sense. The spirits showed me that I was going to apprentice with the shaman leading the ceremony, and they also showed me an incredible fusion of music and shamanism. If you had told me then that this vision was going to manifest in the way that it is now, I wouldn’t have believed you. But over the years, piece by piece, everything lined up and now here we are.
CMB: Do you have plans to go back there?
S: Yes definitely. I am heading back later this year. I have been back and forth quite a bit since my first visit, at least 2-3 times per year. I work with an Amazonian shamanic center outside of Iquitos that runs workshops with travelers and people looking for healing and transformation through Amazonian plant spirit medicine. My shaman teacher founded his center Blue Morpho Tours in 2001, the same year I began my journey. As part of my shamanic training, I continue to work within the Amazonian tradition along with the practices we do up here in the US.
CMB: Does anything you learned there, or by using the name Shamanix, prevent you from doing anything or acting a certain way? Is it at all restrictive?
S: Yes and no. The shamanic training is not rule based, it is experience based. So you have to learn how to understand in a very deep way what is and isn’t in alignment with your path through your own experience. In the Amazonian traditions, there are periods of time in training where you are under heavy restrictions. You follow a very limited and bland diet, while also refraining from ingesting any drugs or alcohol, as well as being abstinent from all sexual activity. These restrictions help to support and provide an optimum environment – physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually – to receive the teachings. Because my training is a hybrid of traditional and Modern Shamanism, I am learning how to navigate shamanic reality in Western culture. This puts me in a position where I have to discern what limitations work best for my environment. The fusion with hip hop music, for me, is an ideal way to express this.
CMB: How did you get into music originally?
S: I had my mind blown by Killah Priest’s album Heavy Mental – and I mean, completely blown. That album changed the way I viewed music, especially hip hop. It was such a monumental discovery for me. So I always place the roots of my inspiration there.
CMB: What else influences your music?
S: I just love the craft. I have found something in hip hop – and shamanism – that allows me to express myself in a way that no other medium has been able to contain. The art form itself inspires and influences me. It is all driven from the need to create and express experiences that are so unique. Everyone has unique experiences. Life itself is the biggest influence. I want to tell my story and share my spirit. This allows me to do it in a way that has meaning, with the hope that other people will be affected positively as well.
CMB: Where are you on the web?
S: All my music is available for free download on my Bandcamp site. Here is the link to my EP, Initiation:
https://shamanixofficial.bandcamp.com/album/initiation
My Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/ShamanixOfficial
Also check out the Blue Morpho Club, which is where I do my shamanic work here in Colorado:
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