European Shakuhachi Society Newsletter Vol 1

European Shakuhachi Society Newsletter 2015 - Vol 1 Grateful thanks for the translations in this number to: Hélène Codjo, Maris (Hawwa) Morales Gra...
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European Shakuhachi Society Newsletter 2015 - Vol 1

Grateful thanks for the translations in this number to: Hélène Codjo, Maris (Hawwa) Morales

Grateful thanks for the pictures in this number to: Jean François Lagrost (ESS news & Luminaries), KSK (Shakuhachi practice), Joke Verdoold (event review)

Cover: Edo, print 63: Suidō Bridge and the Surugadai Quarter. Ukiyoe by Utagawa Hiroshige (歌 川 広重) 2015. Vol. 1. Publications officers: Michael Soumei Coxall & Horacio Curti

Index From the Editors From the Chairperson

English Español

3 4

English Español

5 6

English

7

On the next ESS Summer School Paris 2015 - Suizan Lagrost

English Français

8 10

On the World Shakuhachi Festival in Prague 2016 - call for volunteers

English

12

English Español Français

13 17 21

Shakuhachi Practice Some observations on practice for (KSK) koten honkyoku - Matama Kazushi English Español Reviews

25 32

Obituary for Hanada Ikkei ESS Announcements

Shakuhachi Luminaries Nakao Tozan- Suizan Lagrost





Event Review - Shakuhachi music at the Spaarne - Joke Verdoold Recirding Review - Recovery Suite - Dr. Jim Franklin



English

39

English

40

English

43

ESS Newsletter Contributor´s guidelines

English

44

ESS Membership information

English

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Announcements - new section! Coda

From the Editors

A very warm welcome to the Spring edition of the ESS Newsletter and we wish you all a very happy New Year with so much shakuhachi related activity to look forward to in the coming year. This Newsletter features an insightful article in the ‘Luminaries’ section on the life of Nakao Tozan, the founder of Tozan-ryu shakuhachi, as well as information on the ESS Summer School which will be held in Paris 2nd – 5th July featuring for the first time Kawamura Taizan, the leading Tozan-ryu shakuhachi master, together with leading teachers from Europe representing a wide variety of shakuhachi styles. The ‘Shakuhachi Practice’ section focusses this time on very interesting ideas from Matama Kazushi on the specific practice of KSK koten honkyoku but they are still very relevant for all of us trying to develop our control and accuracy of pitch and expression. Looking forward to the World Shakuhachi Festival 2016 (WSF16) to be held in Prague, the organising committees have been very active and are looking for more helpers to assist with translations and media activities, so please read the details in the “ESS announcements section” of this Newsletter carefully and if you can, please sign up to help. The event needs you! You will also find a new section in this NL, “event announcements” and the guidelines on how to send your information, if you would like to include any of your activities here. And remember that we await your comments on the content of the Newsletter and on what you would like to read about in future editions at [email protected]. We also look forward to receiving your own articles, which you would like included in the next Newsletter. Best to you all

Michael & Horacio Editors 3

From the Editors

Una muy calurosa bienvenida a esta edición de primavera del ESS Newsletter y aprovechamos para desearos un muy feliz año. Un 2015 lleno de actividades relacionadas con el shakuhachi. Esta Newsletter presenta un detallado articulo en la sección “Luminarias” sobre la vida de Nakao Tozan, el fundador del linaje Tozan de shakuhachi, así como información sobre la escuela de verano del ESS que este año sucederá en Paris entre el 2 y el 5 de julio teniendo como invitado principal a Kawamura Taizan, el principal maestro actual del Tozan-ryu, junto con importantes maestros europeos representando una gran variedad de estilos de shakuhachi. La sección ‘Shakuhachi Practice’ se enfoca en este número en ideas muy interesantes del maestro Matama Kazushi sobre la práctica del koten honkyoku de KSK que serán muy relevantes para todos aquellos de nosotros que trabajamos en desarrollar nuestro control y precisión en la afinación y la expresión. Esperando con ganas el World Shakuhachi Festival 2016 (WSF16) (festival mundial de shakuhachi 2016) que tendrá lugar en Praga, los comités organizadores han estado muy activos y están buscando más colaboradores para ayudar con traducciones y medios, por favor buscad los detalles en el “ESS announcements section” (sección de anuncios del ESS) de esta Newsletter y si podéis, apuntados para ayudar. Este evento necesita vuestra ayuda! Encontraréis también en este número una nueva sección titulada “event announcements” (anuncio de eventos) y la guía sobre como enviar vuestra información si deseáis que vuestras actividades figuren en este espacio. Y recordad que en [email protected], esperamos vuestros comentarios sobre el contenido de la Newsletter, sobre lo que os gustaría leer en próximas ediciones y por supuesto vuestros artículos para incluir en próximos números. Os deseamos lo mejor

Michael & Horacio Editores

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From the Chairperson

Welcome to the spring edition 2015 of the ESS Newsletter. I hope many of you have happily entered 2015 with lots of shakuhachi playing - perhaps even with a hatsubuki (初吹き) - the first “blowing” of the year. Some shakuhachi groups in Japan meet soon after New Year and have a hatsubuki meeting and simply blow together. As the ESS is a pan-European shakuhachi group, many of us have great distances between us. The Swiss Chikuyusha group has robuki gatherings once a month in both Zürich and Basel - a very nice initiative! Gatherings locally around a teacher are, of course, more doable and perhaps something we can encourage - and we could then share either sounds or photos on the ESS website, the NL and on Facebook? The shakuhachi festivals, summer schools and gatherings which will happen later this year are now being prepared around Europe. The European Shakuhachi Summer School is going to be held in Paris, the city of love, 2-5 July. Jean-François Lagrost and Véronique Piron are busily preparing that event which has the Tozan school as its main focus with the great Kawamura Taizan and Kawamura Kizan coming from Japan to perform and teach. The Tozan school is the biggest of the 3 main schools of shakuhachi in Japan and although it has been less important outside of Japan, over the past decade or so it has gained a significant importance in the shakuhachi world in Europe. So, apart from it being a great opportunity for us to learn and hear the Tozan rendition of the beautiful music we all love and learn, particularly their honkyoku, it is also an opportunity for us to celebrate the breadth of European shakuhachi! In Czech Republic, the Prague Shakuhachi Festival will take place 21-25 August with the main guest being Sugawara Kuniyoshi under the theme of ‘Sound and Enlightenment’. Life has its up and downs. New life comes and life vanishes. We have recently lost one of our important teachers in Europe; Hanada Ikkei - who taught Itchoken style in Germany. It has been a great strength in Europe and good fortune to have had teachers like Hanada who taught for many years a style that is a part of a minority in the traditional music world in Japan. I would like, on behalf of the ESS, to pay the deepest respect to Hanada-sensei and to express sincere condolences to his family, friends and students. A short obituary is included in this edition of the NL. I wish you a great shakuhachi year 2015. See you at the Summer School in Paris, in Prague and at other events!

Kiku Day ESS, chairperson 5

From the Chairperson

Bienvenidos a la edición de primavera 2015 de la ESS Newsletter. Espero que hayáis tenido una buena entrada en este 2015 con mucho shakuhachi y quizás incluso con hatsubuki (初吹き) – el primer “soplo” del año. En Japón, algunos grupos de shakuhachi se encuentran a inicios del año y tiene un encuentro hatsubuki y simplemente soplan el shakuhachi juntos. Dado que el ESS es un grupo pan-europeo muchos de nosotros estamos separados por grandes distancias. El grupo Suizo de Chikuyusha realiza encuentros de robuki una vez al mes tanto en Zurich como en Basilea – una gran iniciativa! Encuentros locales relacionados con un profesor son por supuesto más realizables y quizás podríamos compartir sonidos y fotos en la Web del ESS, la Newsletter o Facebook? Muchas personas están ahora mismo preparando los festivales de shakuhachi, escuelas de verano y encuentros varios que sucederán en Europa durante este año. El European Shakuhachi Society Summer School de este año sucederá en Paris, la ciudad del amor, entre el 2 y el 5 julio. Jean-François Lagrost y Véronique Piron, como principales organizadores, están preparando este evento que tiene su foco principal en la escuela Tozan siendo los invitados principales desde Japón Kawamura Taizan y Kawamura Kizan a quienes podremos escuchar enseñando y tocando. La escuela Tozan es la mayor de las tres principales escuelas de shakuhachi de Japón y aunque ha sido menos importante fuera de Japón, en la última década ha ganado importancia en el mundo de shakuhachi europeo. Entonces, además de ser una gran oportunidad para todos nosotros de aprender y escuchar el estilo Tozan de interpretar la música que amamos y estudiamos, en particular su honkyoku, es también una oportunidad de celebrar el aliento del shakuhachi europeo! En la república Checa, el “Prague Shakuhachi Festival” tendrá lugar entre el 21 y el 25 de agosto siendo su invitado principal Sugawara Kuniyoshi bajo el tema ‘Sound and Enlightenment’ -“sonido e iluminación”. La vida tiene sus cosas buenas y sus cosas malas. Nueva vida llega y otras vidas se apagan. Recientemente hemos perdido uno de los profesores importantes de Europa, Hanada Ikkei, quien enseñaba el estilo Itchoken en Alemania. Ha sido una gran fortuna que ha conferido fuerza a nuestro entorno el hecho de contar con maestros como Hanada quienes enseñaron por muchos años un estilo que es una minoría en el mundo de la música tradicional en Japón. Me gustaría, en nombre del ESS, transmitir nuestro respeto hacia Hanada-sensei y expresar nuestras sinceras condolencias a su familia, amigos y estudiantes. Un breve obituario es incluido en esta edición de nuestra NL. Os deseo a todos un gran 2015 lleno de shakuhachi Espero veros en la escuela de verano de Paris, en Praga y en otros eventos! Kiku Day Presidenta del ESS 6

Obituary

ESS is very sad to announce the passing of Hanada Ikkei-sensei on 1st October, 2014 after playing shakuhachi for some 70 years. Although he first studied Kinko-ryu shakuhachi for 20 years, he became a student of the Itchoken temple and, in 1997, he moved to Germany where he taught music of the Itchoken repertoire to his grateful students. As a professor of philosophy and a dedicated scholar of the works of Dogen, he was among the few who both understood and lived a real connection between Zen and shakuhachi. In his own words, ‘If I am lucky? I don’t know what that word means. But I am satisfied with my life’.

The Editors

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ESS News

ESS Summer School 2015 July 2-5, 2015 Paris, France

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he European Shakuhachi Society Summer School 2015 will be held in Le KremlinBicêtre on the outskirts of Paris, from the morning of 2nd July to the late afternoon of 5th July. An opening concert may also be planned for the evening of 1st July so please keep an eye on the website which is updated regularly: http://paris2015.shakuhachisociety.eu Paris is certainly the most Japanese of European cities and the shakuhachi is not left out; the communicative passion of musicians such as Daniel Seisoku Lifermann (La Voie du Bambou) or Sōzan Kariya (Shin Tozan-ryū France) has created a diverse community of shakuhachi players. Thanks also to Véronique Piron (KSK) who has been teaching in Paris for many years, and occasionally but regularly Gunnar Jinmei Linder (Chikumeisha), Fukuda Teruhisa (Hijiri-kai), and Furuya Teruo (KSK), this community is the home of high quality of teaching in a variety of styles. For this first Summer School in Paris, we have decided to highlight one of the most important schools of shakuhachi in Japan, the Tozan school. Taizan Kawamura, first disciple of Hozan Yamamoto and professor at the National University of Fine Arts and Music of Tokyo, and his son Kizan Kawamura, have honoured us with accepting our invitations to teach and perform. European teachers will also be joining: Gunnar Jinmei Linder (Chikumeisha), Wolfgang Fuyūgen Hessler (Chikuyūsha), Véronique Piron (KSK), Daniel Seisoku Lifermann (Hijiri-kai) and Jim Franklin (KSK, contemporary music and improvisation). We particularly appreciate that the Swiss Shakuhachi Society (Shakuhachi Gesellschaft Schweiz) will be joining this event so that Wolfgang Hessler and Gunnar Linder will be able to offer you a comparison between the Chikuyūsha and the Chikumeisha styles, two important branches of the Kinko school. Moreover, thanks to the presence in Paris of Mieko Miyazaki, Fumie Hihara and Etsuko Chida, we will be able to present different aesthetic currents of the koto, especially the Yamada school. Mieko Miyazaki and Fumie Hihara will also teach koto and shamisen. Le Kremlin-Bicêtre is a city of 26,000 inhabitants whose history is particularly linked to the French Revolution and the labour movements of the early 20th century. At the beginning of the 14th century, the castle built by Jean de Pontoise, Bishop of Winchester, took the name of  ‘Winchester Castle’ but this name, barbarous to French pronunciation, suffered a number of distortions and became successively Vincestre, Bichestre, Bisestre and finally Bicêtre.

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ESS News

The ’Sergeant of the Kremlin’, an ancient tavern which no longer exists, gave the other half of the city its name. Le Kremlin-Bicêtre is adjacent to the south of Paris and is very well served by public transport (metro, bus, tram). The metro line 7 links it to the center of Paris in about fifteen minutes. Most of the classes will be held at the Conservatory of Music, Dance and Theater, where we will benefit from spacious rooms and good facilities (chairs, desks, pianos ...) The concerts will take place in two halls of the city: the auditorium ’L’Echo’, a brand new hall 5 minutes walk from the Conservatory, and the beautiful Council Chamber of the City Hall. As usual, a concert will take place every evening with free admission for the participants of the Summer School. A choice of affordable accommodation is already listed on the website of the Summer School: http://paris2015.shakuhachisociety.eu Le Kremlin-Bicêtre is easy to reach by public transport, either from the airports or train stations in Paris. If you come by air and have a choice, Orly Airport is much closer than Charles de Gaulle airport. All details regarding transport will also soon be available on the website. The fee for this Summer School will be about the same as in previous years and includes lessons, workshops and concerts, but not accommodation, meals or transportation which you need to book yourself. Booking for the Summer School will open soon. We hope to see you all in Paris!

[email protected] www.paris2015.shakuhachisociety.eu Suizan JF Lagrost 9

ESS News

ESS Summer School 2015 July 2-5, 2015 Paris, France

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a Rencontre européenne de shakuhachi 2015 se tiendra au Kremlin-Bicêtre, ville limitrophe de Paris, du jeudi 2 juillet au matin au dimanche 5 juillet fin d’après-midi. Un concert d’ouverture pourrait également avoir lieu le soir du 1er juillet, nous vous invitons à vous tenir informés sur le site de la Rencontre, qui est régulièrement actualisé : www.paris2015.shakuhachisociety.eu Paris est certainement la plus japonaise des villes européennes, et le shakuhachi n’est pas en reste : la passion communicative de musiciens comme Daniel Lifermann (La Voie du Bambou) ou Sōzan Kariya (Shin Tozan-ryū France) a donné naissance à une communauté de plusieurs dizaines de joueurs de shakuhachi. Grâce également à Véronique Piron (KSK), présente à Paris depuis de nombreuses années, et de manière ponctuelle mais régulière Gunnar Linder (Chikumeisha), Teruhisa Fukuda (Hijiri-kai) et Teruo Furuya (KSK), cette communauté bénéficie d’un enseignement de qualité dans des styles variés. Pour cette première Rencontre parisienne, nous avons décidé de mettre en avant l’une des principales écoles de shakuhachi au Japon, l’école Tozan. Taizan Kawamura, premier disciple de Hozan Yamamoto et professeur à l’université nationale des Beaux-Arts et de la Musique de Tokyo, ainsi que son fils Kizan Kawamura, nous ont fait l’honneur d’accepter notre invitation. Se joindront à eux les professeurs européens Gunnar Linder (Chikumeisha), Wolfgang Hessler (Chikuyūsha), Véronique Piron (KSK), Daniel Lifermann (Hijiri-kai) et Jim Franklin (KSK, contemporain, improvisation). Nous apprécions particulièrement que la Société suisse de shakuhachi (Shakuhachi Gesellschaft Schweiz) se joigne à cette Rencontre ; Wolfgang Hessler et Gunnar Linder pourront ainsi vous proposer un enseignement comparatif des styles Chikuyūsha et Chikumeisha, deux branches importantes de l’école Kinko. Par ailleurs, grâce à la présence à Paris de Mieko Miyazaki, Fumie Hihara et Etsuko Chida, nous serons en mesure de présenter différents courants esthétiques du koto, notamment l’école Yamada. Mieko Miyazaki et Fumie Hihara se chargeront de l’enseignement du koto et du shamisen. Le Kremlin-Bicêtre est une ville de 26000 habitants dont l’histoire est liée notamment à la Révolution, ainsi qu’aux mouvements ouvriers du début du xxe siècle. Au début du xive 10

ESS News

siècle, le château qu’y a fait construire Jean de Pontoise, évêque de Winchester, prend son titre et devient le château de Winchester. Mais ce nom, barbare à la prononciation française, subit un certain nombre de déformations pour devenir successivement Vincestre, Bichestre, Bisestre puis enfin Bicêtre. Le « Sergent du Kremlin », cabaret aujourd’hui disparu, a donné l’autre moitié du nom de la ville. Le Kremlin-Bicêtre jouxte Paris par le sud et est très bien desservie par les transports en commun (métro, bus, tramway). La ligne 7 du métro permet d’atteindre le centre de Paris en une quinzaine de minutes. L’essentiel de la Rencontre se déroulera au Conservatoire de musique, danse et théâtre, où nous bénéficierons de salles spacieuses et équipées (chaises, pupitres, pianos…) Les concerts auront lieu dans deux salles de la ville : l’auditorium de l’Echo, très récent et situé à 5 minutes à pied du Conservatoire, et la belle salle du Conseil municipal à la mairie. Comme d’habitude un concert aura lieu chaque soir et l’entrée sera gratuite pour les participants à la Rencontre. Un choix d’hébergements abordables est d’ores et déjà proposé sur le site de la Rencontre : www.paris2015.shakuhachisociety.eu Le Kremlin-Bicêtre est facile d’accès en transports en commun, que ce soit depuis les aéroports ou les gares parisiens. Si vous venez en avion et que vous ayez le choix, préférez l’aéroport d’Orly à l’aéroport Charles-de-Gaulle, Orly étant géographiquement bien plus proche du Kremlin-Bicêtre. Tous les détails concernant les transports seront également publiés prochainement sur le site. Les tarifs de cette Rencontre seront sensiblement les mêmes que les années précédentes. Ils comprennent les cours et les concerts, mais n’incluent pas l’hébergement, qui doit être réservé par vos soins, ni les repas et les transports. Les réservations seront ouvertes très prochainement. Nous espérons vous retrouver très nombreux à cette Rencontre ! [email protected] www.paris2015.shakuhachisociety.eu Suizan JF Lagrost 11

ESS News

WSF2016 CALL for Translators and Social Media person The WORLD SHAKUHACHI FESTIVAL 2016 PRAGUE – co-organised by the ESS, 108 Hz and Kokusai Shakuhachi Kenshūkan (Japan Affiliated Coordinating Body) – is looking for volunteers to assist with the preparation of publicity materials regarding next year’s world festival. Translators: The main duty would be to translate texts for the website. It is estimated that translating commences around March this year and continues intermittently throughout this year and up to the festival start in June 2016. Ideally there would be several translators for each required language, so that the translation work can be distributed. Required languages: English to Japanese Japanese to English English to Czech English to Spanish English to French English to Chinese English to Russian Social Media: The WSF16 needs a lively social media presence. We would like someone who would be willing to create and look after social media profiles/platforms such as facebook and twitter. The volunteer would work in connection with the WSF16 publicity and website committees. The exact level of exchange and role can be shaped during the social media ‘campaign’. We envision that the social media presence should start around late spring/early summer this year and continue throughout this year and up to the festival start in June 2016. If you are interested to help or have any questions please email: [email protected] or [email protected]

Thorsten Knaub Website/Publicity committee, WSF2016

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Shakuhachi Luminaries

Nakao Tozan

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is name is known to all shakuhachi players in the world, regardless of the school they belong to, even to the autodidacts. Yet, when I was asked to write this article, I realised how little I knew about the founder of my school, Nakao Tozan; just the main outline of his life and a few anecdotes transmitted by my teacher Kariya Sōzan. Born in 1876, the future founder of the Tozan School, Nakao Rinzō, was the second son of an oil merchant in Ōsaka. His mother, a koto and kokyū player, had him start the shakuhachi and immediately got him used to playing in an instrumental ensemble. Attracted by the music world, he decided at the age of 19 to become a professional shakuhachi player. His artist name (chikugo), which was also to become the name of his future school, was chosen in a rush during an interview for military service. To the recruiter who was asking him his profession he said that he was a ’shakuhachi player’ but the soldier didn’t want to believe him unless he gave him his chikugo. Rinzō therefore invented one on the spur of the moment from the second ideogram of his mother’s first name Mitsuko (三都子) and the Buddhist name his grandfather received on his death (hōmyō) which created the name of Tozan (都山). Other symbols of the school are directly related to the life of Nakao Tozan. The logo of the Tozan-ryū, a dwarf bamboo leaf, is a reminder of the name of his father’s oil shop ‘Sasaya’ and the honorific rank of chikurinken comes from his first name Rinzō.

The Tozan school was officially founded on 15th February, 1896, the date on which the first school opened in Ōsaka in the shop of a barber who would later become a shakuhachi maker. The world of shakuhachi in Kansai was very much centered around the Meian school in Kyōto and the Sōetsu school in Ōsaka so Nakao Tozan, being entirely committed to his school which consisted of just a dozen students, was somewhat isolated. Not satisfied with the usual pieces of the repertoire such as Rokudan, he started to develop new music scores 13

Shakuhachi Luminaries

based on a different logic. By working with an old woman living near his home who taught the shamisen, he wrote a different shakuhachi accompaniment to many pieces such as Zangetsu and Azumajishi followed by Chidori no kyoku and later Haru no kyoku. With each new release, the interest in this outstanding player increased and new students were attracted to him. At this time, he also gave his first major concerts when opportunities to perform in public were rare. Despite the lack of students, he decided to organise small public concerts, which was the beginning of what would later become the annual concerts of the Tozan school. As he knew nothing about the rental rates of a concert hall nor how to organise a concert, the first performances were held in a misty wasteland among the dandelions, but everyone brought their own bento and all had a good time… One day in 1898, Nakao Tozan was visited by a famous bookshop owner from Osaka who asked him to publish a self-study book on the shakuhachi. At that time, the masters kept their pieces secret so their students could only learn them directly from them but eventually he decided to accept this offer as he felt that it was more important to share his knowledge with the world. Comprising of two volumes, this collection presented the famous pieces of that time and especially some long pieces such as Shōchikubai and Chidori no kyoku and became a bestseller and went into dozens of reprints. The following 5 years were bleak ones for Nakao Tozan. In 1899, his mother, who had supported him both psychologically and financially, died but unable to earn his living by teaching the shakuhachi and not wanting to become a street player offering his services from house to house, he finally had to move house and eventually found a job as a secretary. However, some of his students followed him, enabling him to stay in touch with the musical world and to continue giving concerts. He eventually recovered financially and in 1903, he moved again to open a new teaching space. This time, he was not beginning from scratch and the requests for lessons were immediate and numerous although all was far from easy. The Russo-Japanese conflict had intensified and war finally broke out in 1904. Nakao Tozan was often asked to give both solo and ensemble concerts for the benefit of the army. The originality of the Tozan school moved the public and these concerts were very successful, in both the worlds of the intelligentsia and of the uninformed public. One of the great particularities of Nakao Tozan is to have created his own honkyoku and to have had them published. In 1904, moved as many Japanese were by the heroic story of 14

Shakuhachi Luminaries

the sailor, Hirose, he composed the piece Seikaiha which received an ovation and became a standard work of the Tozan school. In August that year, he composed Kōgetsu chō and in September, Harukaze. Nakao Tozan was a very religious man who prayed every morning, whether at home or when travelling and he particularly liked the temple Iwashimizu Hachimangū, which inspired the piece Iwashimizu. At that time, it was very rare for a shakuhachi player to compose pieces by himself so these new pieces were a surprise for the world of traditional Japanese music but amateur musicians welcomed his innovations with open arms. With these new compositions, he received more and more concert proposals and his fame grew to the point of attracting already established and even overseas students so his teaching place became too small forcing him to move into a house. Isonarematsu was published at a time when Western classical music began to have much success in Japan and he arranged Chidori no kyoku for the violin and published Haru no hikari, a duo based on Western music theory. Concert proposals increased and he was asked to open a class in Kōbe after giving a concert there but the journey was difficult and his class in Ōsaka was enough for him. In spite of that, one student, Furubayashi Shūzan who was the first one to achieve the rank of jun-shihan, came regularly from Kobe and told him of his desire to become a professional shakuhachi player which was very unusual at that time. As a future chikurinken, he would go on to train a hundred teachers, including several grandmasters. Assisted by highly motivated students, Nakao Tozan also reformed the way of writing scores and together they created the Tozanryū shakuhachi ompu kaisetsu (Tozan Music Theory) which, with the publication of new parts for pieces such as Kurokami and Yuki, enabled several teachers to give group lessons.

The story of the concert to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Tozan school contrasts with the first small public concerts. In 1911, a large concert was organised bringing together around 60 hand-picked shakuhachi players from Ōsaka, Tōkyō, Okayama and Kōbe. This was an extraordinary event which had never occurred before in the shakuhachi world and was due to start at 10.00am and end at 6.00pm. The room was decorated inside and out with flags, golden screens and large vases of flowers creating a very festive atmosphere. At 9.00am all the participants arrived and a group picture was taken and the concert started at 10:10 with Chidori no kyoku and by noon the entire room was packed. Speeches were made, telegrams read, new pieces including Iwashimizu were performed, until finally Nakao Tozan performed Kangetsu in front of 5,000 people. ‘While I was playing, something extraordinary happened’, Nakao Tozan later recalled. ‘I have played hundreds of times in public, but this time something unique happened. The room was scheduled to be used by another group 15

Shakuhachi Luminaries

which would take over from 6.00pm. The audience for this second concert were already beginning to arrive and by the time I was performing Kangetsu the other group started to play their own piece. The Tozan concert audience were so horrified that they began to fight, injuring several people, but fortunately the police arrived before it could degenerate further !’ Nakao Tozan has been described as a careful teacher, ever neat and polite. He would always begin by playing something as an example so that the student could then imitate while he struck the rhythm and sang the piece. In case of difficulty, he would replay the section to the student until he could play it properly. Then, he and the student would play it together. At the end, he would give all kinds of explanations of the piece, focusing particularly on expression. A conscientious writer should now proofread his article but to be in perfect harmony with the Tozan tradition, I will not! In fact, according to his student Kanemori Kōzan who had sometimes been embarrassed by this approach, ‘Nakao Tozan never modified a note once it was written, regardless of its importance’. Indeed, he often received greetings cards which he could recognise as having come from his teacher by the style and the mistakes. He finally understood that this approach was difficult to adopt as most people were seeking perfection. One day, he directly asked his master about this and received the reply, ‘A musician can never go back on what he has played. A sound that came out is unchangeable. It would be catastrophic for me to get used to rewriting my letters because a musician must absolutely accept to play his card with only one chance’.

Acknowledgements I would like to express my sincere thanks to Nakao Tozan’s granddaughter, Nakao Mitsuko, the present iemoto of the Shin Tozan School, who very kindly provided me with information for this aticle and to my wife, Aïmé Lagrost-Konuma, who helped with translating it.

Suizan JF Lagrost

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Shakuhachi Luminaries

Nakao Tozan

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on nom est connu de tous les joueurs de shakuhachi dans le monde, quelle que soit l’école à laquelle ils appartiennent et jusqu’aux autodidactes. Pourtant, lorsqu’on m’a demandé de rédiger cet article, je me suis rendu compte à quel point je savais peu de choses sur le fondateur de mon école, Nakao Tozan: les grandes lignes de sa vie et quelques anecdotes transmises par mon professeur Kariya Sōzan.

Sa petite-fille Nakao iemoto de l’école amené à correspondre elle depuis plusieurs gentiment accepté de informations, connues grand-père. Ma femme m’a aidé à les traduire, et toutes les deux pour leur

Mitsuko étant l’actuelle ShinTozan, je suis régulièrement avec années. Elle a très me communiquer des ou non, concernant son Aïmé Lagrost-Konuma je tiens à les remercier aide précieuse.

Celui qui deviendra le fondateur de l’école Tozan, Nakao Rinzō, est le deuxième fils d’un marchand d’huile d’Ōsaka, né en 1876. Sa mère, joueuse de koto et de kokyū, fait débuter le shakuhachi à Rinzō et l’habitue tout de suite à jouer en ensemble instrumental. Séduit par l’univers musical, il décide à l’âge de 19 ans de faire du shakuhachi son métier. Son nom d’artiste (chikugo), qui sera également le nom de l’école qu’il fondera plus tard, est choisi dans l’urgence lors d’un entretien pour le service militaire. À l’agent recruteur qui lui demande sa profession, il répond : « joueur de shakuhachi ». Mais le soldat ne veut le croire que s’il lui dit son chikugo. Rinzō en invente donc un sur place, à partir du deuxième idéogramme du prénom de sa mère Mitsuko (三都子) et du nom de mort (hōmyō) de son grand-père : ainsi est né le nom de Tozan (都山). D’autres symboles de l’école sont directement liés à la vie de Nakao Tozan. Le logo de Tozan-ryū d’abord, une feuille de bambou nain, est un rappel du nom de la boutique d’huile paternelle : Sasaya. Quant au grade honorifique de chikurinken, il est tiré de son prénom 17

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d’état civil Rinzō. L’école Tozan est officiellement fondée le 15 février 1896. Cette date correspond à l’ouverture de la première école à Ōsaka, dans la boutique d’un coiffeur qui deviendra plus tard fabricant de shakuhachi. À cette époque, le Japon est en effervescence suite aux victoires militaires contre la Chine. Le monde du shakuhachi dans le Kansai prospère surtout autour de l’école Meian, à Kyōto, et de l’école Sōetsu, à Ōsaka. Isolé, Nakao Tozan se donne entièrement à son école, constituée d’une petite dizaine d’élèves. Ne se contentant pas des morceaux habituels du répertoire comme Rokudan, il fait des recherches pour élaborer de nouvelles partitions fonctionnant selon une autre logique. En collaborant avec une vieille femme habitant près de chez lui et qui enseigne le shamisen, il écrit de nombreux morceaux comme Zangetsu ou Azumajishi. Suivent la partie shakuhachi de Chidori no kyoku puis Haru no kyoku. À chaque nouvelle publication, l’intérêt pour ce joueur hors normes augmente et de nouveaux élèves arrivent. Nakao Tozan fait alors ses premiers concerts importants dans un contexte où les occasions de se produire en public sont rares. Malgré le peu d’élèves, il souhaite organiser des petites auditions publiques, prémisses de ce que seront plus tard les concerts annuels de l’école Tozan. Ne connaissant pas les tarifs de location des salles ni comment organiser un concert, les premières auditions ont lieu dans un terrain vague, parmi les pissenlits et dans le brouillard ; mais chacun apportant son bentō, tous passent un moment agréable… Un jour de 1898, Nakao Tozan reçoit la visite d’un grand libraire d’Ōsaka qui lui demande de publier un livre de shakuhachi pour les autodidactes. Il y réfléchit beaucoup, car à cette époque on garde plutôt les morceaux pour soi afin d’enseigner ses secrets aux élèves. Il décide finalement d’accepter, considérant qu’il est plus important d’ouvrir ses connaissances au monde. Composé de deux volumes, le recueil présente des tubes de l’époque et surtout de grands morceaux comme Shōchikubai ou Chidori no kyoku. Il devient un best-seller et connaît plusieurs dizaines de rééditions. Les cinq années suivantes sont plutôt sombres pour Nakao Tozan. En 1899, sa mère, qui le soutenait beaucoup psychologiquement et financièrement, décède. N’arrivant pas à vivre de l’enseignement du shakuhachi et ne souhaitant pas devenir un joueur de rue qui propose ses services de maison en maison, il déménage et trouve un travail de secrétariat. Malgré cela quelques élèves lui restent fidèles et lui permettent de garder contact avec le monde musical. Il continue à faire des concerts. L’économie finit par se rétablir et en 1903 il déménage à nouveau pour ouvrir une 18

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nouvelle classe d’enseignement. Cette fois-ci, ne partant pas de zéro, les demandes d’élèves sont immédiates et nombreuses. Tout n’est pas rose pour autant. Le conflit Russo-Japonais s’intensifie et la guerre finit par éclater en 1904. Nakao Tozan est très sollicité pour donner des concerts au profit de l’armée, seul ou en musique de chambre. L’originalité de l’école Tozan touche le public et ces concerts rencontrent un grand succès, aussi bien auprès de l’intelligentsia de l’époque que du public non-averti. Une des grandes particularités de Tozan est d’avoir créé ses propres honkyoku et de les avoir rendus publics. En 1904, touché comme beaucoup de Japonais par l’histoire héroïque d’un marin appelé Hirose, il compose Seikaiha. Ovationné, ce morceau devient le socle de la future école Tozan. En août de la même année il compose Kōgetsu chō, puis Harukaze en septembre. Nakao Tozan est un homme très croyant qui fait sa prière tous les matins, qu’il soit chez lui ou en voyage. Il affectionne particulièrement le temple Iwashimizu Hachimangū, qui lui inspire la pièce Iwashimizu. Il est très rare à cette époque qu’un joueur de shakuhachi compose lui-même. Ces nouvelles pièces surprennent dans le monde de la musique traditionnelle japonaise, mais les musiciens amateurs accueillent cette nouveauté à bras ouverts. Grâce à ces nouvelles compositions, il a de plus en plus de propositions de concerts et sa renommée grandit au point d’avoir des élèves étrangers ou connus. Son lieu d’enseignement devenant trop petit, il déménage dans une maison. Isonarematsu est publié à une époque où la musique classique occidentale commence à avoir beaucoup de succès au Japon. Il arrange Chidori no kyoku pour le violon et publie Haru no hikari, duo basé sur la théorie musicale occidentale. Les demandes de concerts se multiplient et on lui demande d’ouvrir une classe à Kōbe, suite à un concert organisé dans cette ville. Mais le voyage est trop contraignant et il se contente finalement de sa classe d’Ōsaka. Malgré cela, un élève vient régulièrement de Kōbe et lui fait part de son souhait de faire du shakuhachi son métier, chose très rare à l’époque. Cet élève (Furubayashi Shūzan) est le premier à obtenir le diplôme de jun-shihan. Futur chikurinken, il formera lui-même une centaine de professeurs dont plusieurs grandsmaîtres. Aidé par des élèves très motivés, Nakao Tozan réforme l’écriture des partitions. Ils créent ensemble le Tozan-ryū shakuhachi ompu kaisetsu (Théorie de la musique Tozan) qui, avec la publication de nouvelles partitions comme Kurokami ou Yuki, permettent à plusieurs professeurs de donner des cours collectifs. Le récit du concert célébrant le 15e anniversaire de l’école Tozan contraste avec celui des premières auditions. En 1911, un grand concert est organisé rassemblant une 19

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soixantaine de joueurs de shakuhachi triés sur le volet, en provenance d’Ōsaka, Tōkyō, Okayama ou Kōbe. C’est un événement extraordinaire, n’ayant jamais eu lieu dans le monde du shakuhachi. Il doit commencer à 10 heures pour se terminer à 18 heures. La salle est décorée à l’intérieur comme à l’extérieur de drapeaux, paravents dorés, grands vases de fleurs, l’ambiance est très festive. À 9 heures tous les participants arrivent et on prend une photo collective. Le concert commence à 10h10 par Chidori no kyoku et à midi toute la salle est occupée par le public. Discours, lecture de télégrammes, nouveaux morceaux dont Iwashimizu, et pour terminer Nakao Tozan interprète Kangetsu, devant 5000 personnes. « Pendant que je jouais, il s’est passé quelque chose d’extraordinaire, raconte Nakao Tozan. Il m’est arrivé de jouer des centaines de fois en public mais c’est quelque chose d’unique qui est arrivé. Ce lieu était prévu pour un autre groupe qui allait prendre la suite à partir de 18 heures. Le public de ce concert commençait déjà à arriver. Au moment où j’étais en train d’interpréter Kangetsu, le groupe en question a commencé à jouer ses propres morceaux. Le public de Tozan a été tellement horrifié qu’ils ont commencé à se battre. Il y a eu des blessés, mais heureusement la police est intervenue et ça n’a pas dégénéré. » L’enseignement de Nakao Tozan est décrit comme attentif, soigné et poli. Commençant par donner l’exemple en jouant, c’est ensuite à l’élève de l’imiter pendant que Nakao Tozan frappe le rythme et chante sa partie. En cas de difficulté, il rejoue le passage à l’élève jusqu’à ce que celui-ci surmonte l’obstacle. Puis l’élève et le professeur jouent ensemble. Pour terminer, Nakao Tozan donne toutes sortes d’explications sur le morceau, s’attardant notamment sur l’expression.

Un rédacteur consciencieux devrait maintenant relire et corriger son article. Mais pour être parfaitement en accord avec la tradition Tozan je n’en ferai rien ! En effet, « Nakao Tozan ne retouchait jamais une lettre une fois écrite, quelle qu’en soit l’importance », nous rapporte son élève Kanemori Kōzan, qui était parfois gêné par cette attitude. Il recevait souvent des cartes de vœux imparfaites, y reconnaissant bien le style de son professeur. Il comprend finalement que cette attitude est difficile à adopter, alors que la plupart des gens cherchent la perfection. Un jour, il questionne directement Nakao Tozan sur ce sujet. Celui-ci lui répond : « Un musicien ne peut jamais revenir sur ce qu’il a joué. Un son qui est sorti est définitif. Il serait pour moi catastrophique de prendre l’habitude de retoucher mon écriture, car un musicien doit absolument accepter de jouer sa carte avec une seule chance. »

Suizan JF Lagrost

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Nakao Tozan

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u nombre es conocido por todos los intérpretes de shakuhachi del mundo, sin distinción de la escuela a la que pertenezcan, incluso por los autodidactas. Y sin embargo, cuando me pidieron que escribiera este artículo, me di cuenta de lo poco que sabía sobre el fundador de mi escuela, Nakao Tozan; simplemente las principales líneas de su vida y unas pocas anécdotas transmitidas por mi maestro Kariya Sōzan. Nacido en 1876, el futuro fundador de la Escuela Tozan, Nakao Rinzō, era el segundo hijo de un comerciante de aceites de Ōsaka. Su madre, una intérprete de koto y kokyū, le hizo comenzar con el shakuhachi e inmediatamente le acostumbró a tocar en un conjunto instrumental. Atraído por el mundo de la música, a la edad de 19 años decidió convertirse en un profesional del shakuhachi. Su nombre artístico (chikugo), que pasaría a ser también el nombre de su futura escuela, fue elegido a toda prisa durante una entrevista para el servicio militar. Cuando el reclutador le preguntó por su profesión él le dijo que era «intérprete de shakuhachi» pero el soldado no quería creerle a no ser que le diera su chikugo. Rinzō entonces inventó uno de improviso a partir del segundo ideograma del nombre de su madre Mitsuko (三都子) y el nombre buddhista que su abuelo recibió en su muerte (hōmyō) lo que dio el nombre de Tozan (都山). Otros símbolos de la escuela están directamente relacionados con la vida de Nakao Tozan. El logo de la Tozan-ryū, una hoja enana de bamboo, es un recuerdo del nombre de la tienda de aceites de su padre ‘Sasaya’ y el rango honorífico de chikurinken viene de su nombre Rinzō.

La escuela Tozan fue fundada oficialmente el 15 de febrero de 1896, fecha en la que se abrió la primera escuela en Ōsaka, en la tienda de un barbero que se convertiría posteriormente en fabricante de shakuhachis. El mundo del shakuhachi en Kansai estaba mucho más 21

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centrado en la escuela Meian en Kyōto y la escuela Sōetsu en Ōsaka, por lo que Nakao Tozan, dedicándose por entero a su escuela que consistía en solo una docena de alumnos, se encontraba en cierta forma aislado. No satisfecho con las acostumbradas piezas del repertorio tales como Rokudan, comenzó a desarrollar nuevas partituras musicales basadas en una lógica diferente. Trabajando con una anciana maestra de shamisen que vivía cerca de su casa, escribió un acompañamiento de shakuhachi diferente a varias piezas tales como Zangetsu y Azumajishi seguidas por Chidori no kyoku y posteriormente Haru no kyoku. Con cada nueva estreno el interés en este destacado músico aumentaba atrayendo nuevos estudiantes. En este tiempo también dio sus primeros grandes conciertos cuando las oportunidades de tocar en público eran raras. A pesar de la falta de estudiantes, decidió organizar pequeños conciertos públicos, y esto fue el principio de los que serían posteriormente los conciertos anuales de la escuela Tozan. Como desconocía por completo las tarifas de alquiler de una sala de conciertos ni cómo organizarlos, las primeras actuaciones tuvieron lugar en un páramo brumoso en medio de Dientes de león, pero todos traían su propio bento y disfrutaban del momento.... Un día en 1898, Nakao Tozan recibió la visita de un famoso librero de Osaka quien le pidió publicar un libro de auto aprendizaje para shakuhachi. En aquella época, los maestros mantenían sus piezas en secreto por lo que los alumnos solo podrían aprenderlas directamente de ellos pero Nakao finalmente decidió aceptar esta oferta pues sentía que era mucho más importante compartir su conocimientos con el mundo. Comprendiendo dos volúmenes, esta colección presentaba las piezas más famosas de aquella época y concretamente algunas piezas largas como Shōchikubai y Chidori no kyoku , la obra llegó a ser un éxito de ventas siendo reeditada varias veces. Los siguientes 5 años fueron tristes para Nakao Tozan. En 1899, su madre, quien le había dado apoyo tanto psicológica como económicamente, moría. Incapaz de ganarse la vida con la enseñanza del shakuhachi y negándose a convertirse en un músico de la calle ofreciendo sus servicios de casa en casa, tuvo que dejar su hogar finalmente y buscar un trabajo como secretario. Sin embargo, alguno de sus alumnos le siguieron, permitiéndole mantener el contacto con el mundo de la música y seguir dando conciertos. Eventualmente recuperado económicamente, en 1903 volvió a trasladarse para abrir un nuevo espacio de enseñanza. Esta vez, no comenzaba de cero y las peticiones de clases fueron inmediatas y numerosas aunque las cosas no eran precisamente fáciles. El conflicto RusoJaponés se había intensificado y la guerra finalmente estalló en 1904. Nakao Tozan recibió frecuentes peticiones de dar conciertos tanto de solo como de conjunto en beneficio de la 22

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armada. La originalidad de la escuela Tozan conmovió al público y estos conciertos tuvieron un gran éxito, tanto en el mundo de la intelligentsia como en el del público no informado. Una de las grandes particularidades de Nakao Tozan es la de haber creado su propio honkyoku y haberlo hecho publicar. En 1904, atraído como muchos japoneses por la historia heroica del marinero, Hirose compuso la obra Seikaiha que recibió la ovación del público y pasó a convertirse en la obra estandard de la escuela Tozan. En agosto del mismo año, compuso Kōgetsu chō y en septiembre, Harukaze. Nakao Tozan era una hombre muy religioso que oraba cada mañana, ya sea en su casa o de viaje y particularmente, le gustaba el templo Iwashimizu Hachimangū, que le inspiró la obra Iwashimizu. En aquel momento, era muy poco común que un intérprete de shakuhachi compusiera obras, y aunque estas nuevas piezas fueron una sorpresa para el mundo de la música tradicional japonesa, los músicos aficionados dieron la bienvenida a sus innovaciones con los brazos abiertos. Con estas nuevas composiciones, recibió cada vez más propuestas de conciertos y su fama creció hasta el punto de atraer alumnos incluso del extranjero por lo que su escuela quedó demasiado pequeña obligándole a trasladarse a una casa. Isonarematsu se publicó en un momento en que la música clásica occidental comenzaba a tener mayor éxito en Japón así es que hizo un arreglo de Chidori no kyoku para violín y publicó Haru no hikari, un dúo basado en la teoría musical occidental. Las demandas de conciertos aumentaron hasta que le pidieron abrir una clase en Kōbe tras dar un concierto allí, pero el viaje era difícil y su clase en Ōsaka le bastaba. A pesar de ello, un alumno, Furubayashi Shūzan , el primero en conseguir el rango de jun-shihan, acudía regularmente desde Kobe y le comunicó su deseo de convertirse en un músico profesional de shakuhachi lo que era muy poco usual en aquel tiempo. Como futuro chikurinken, entrenará cientos de maestros, incluyendo varios grandes maestros. Apoyado por alumnos altamente motivados, Nakao Tozan también reformó la escritura de las partituras y juntos crearon la Tozan-ryū shakuhachi ompu kaisetsu (Teoría Musical Tozan) que, con la publicación de nuevas piezas como Kurokami y Yuki, permitieron a muchos maestros dar clases colectivas. La historia del concierto a celebrarse durante el 15º aniversario de la escuela Tozan, contrasta con los primeros pequeños conciertos públicos. En 1911, se organizó un gran concierto trayendo alrededor de 60 músicos seleccionados de shakuhachi desde Ōsaka, Tōkyō, Okayama y Kōbe. Esto fue un acontecimiento extraordinario que no había ocurrido antes en el mundo del shakuhachi y que debía comenzar a las 10.00am y acabar a las 6.00pm. La sala estaba decorada en su interior y exterior con banderas, pantallas doradas y grandes jarrones con flores creando una atmósfera muy festiva. A las 9.00am todos los participantes 23

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llegaron y se tomó una foto de grupo empezando el concierto a las 10:10 con Chidori no kyoku y al mediodía toda la sala estaba llena. Se dieron discursos, lectura de telegramas, se tocaron nuevas piezas incluyendo Iwashimizu, hasta que finalmente Nakao Tozan interpretó Kangetsu ante 5.000 personas. ‘Mientras tocaba, pasó algo extraordinario”, recordará Nakao Tozan más tarde. ‘He tocado cientos de veces en público, pero esta vez ocurrió algo único. La sala estaba programada para ser ocupada por otro grupo a partir de las 6.00pm. La audiencia para este segundo concierto ya comenzaba a llegar y en el momento en que estaba tocando Kangetsu el otro grupo comenzó a tocar su propia pieza. La audiencia de concierto Tozan estaba tan horrorizada que comenzaron a luchar, quedando heridas varias personas, pero afortunadamente la policía llegó antes de que degenerará a más! ’ Nakao Tozan ha sido descrito como un maestro cuidadoso, claro y correcto. Siempre comenzaba tocando algo como ejemplo para que el alumno pudiera imitarle mientras él marcaba el ritmo y cantaba la pieza. En caso de dificultades, volvía tocar la sección del estudiante hasta que la pudiera tocar correctamente. Finalmente tanto él como el alumno tocaban juntos. Al final, daría todo tipo de explicaciones sobre la pieza, enfocándose particularmente en la expresión. Un escritor concienzudo ahora volvería a repasar su artículo, pero en perfecta armonía con la tradición Tozan, ¡no lo hare! De hecho, de acuerdo con su alumno Kanemori Kōzan quien se había mostrado avergonzado varias veces por esta manera de hacer las cosas, ‘Nakao Tozan nunca modificó una nota una vez escrita, independientemente de su importancia. En realidad, a menudo recibía tarjetas de saludo que reconocía venían de su maestro por el estilo y los errores. Finalmente comprendió que su aproximamiento era difícil de adoptar ya que la mayoría de la gente buscaba la perfección. Un día, preguntó directamente a su maestro sobre esto y recibió la siguiente respuesta ‘Un músico no puedo volver a rehacer lo ya tocado. El sonido que surge no puede cambiarse. Sería una catástrofe para mí acostumbrarme a reescribir mis cartas porque un músico debe, sin duda, aceptar jugar sus cartas solo una vez’.

Agradecimientos Me gustaría expresar mi más sincero agradecimiento a la nieta de Nakao Tozan, Nakao Mitsuko, la actual iemoto de escuela Shin Tozan, quien me facilitó amablemente la información para este artículo y a mi mujer, Aïmé Lagrost-Konuma, por su ayuda en traducirlo

Suizan J.-F. Lagrost 24

Shakuhachi Practice

Some observations on practice for Kokusai Shakuhachi Kenshukan (KSK) koten honkyoku I am delighted that the shakuhachi is being played by enthusiasts all over the world and being developed in interesting ways in different countries. Each country has its own musical environment and the way it adopts music from other cultures will vary widely. Although the shakuhachi originated in Japan, its music has been absorbed, developed and expanded in countries throughout the world as I could clearly see when I attended the ESS Summer School in Germany last year and I am sure that the shakuhachi music which comes from the different musical environments in Europe will continue to deepen and to develop in the future. As a member of KSK, in this article I would like to discuss about practice for koten honkyoku (traditional solo music) which created the foundation of all shakuhachi music. Gendai kyoku (contemporary music) is also a feature of KSK performance but I would like to leave that for another occasion. Koten honkyoku is a music of breath and the length of a breath is expressed as ‘ma-a-i’. Koten honkyoku hardly ever uses a fixed rhythm such as 1, 2, 3, 4 and in playing a melody, one breath lasts up to a certain length of time which is approximately described as the length of a line, as can be seen in the notation for the piece ‘Tamuke’ below. About 90% of the scales of koten honkyoku comprise of 5 tones such as (1) roロ, tsu no meriメツ, reレ, chiチ, riリ, or (2) reレ, chi no meriメチ, riリ, roロ, tsuツ. The remaining 10% comprise of 5 tones of (3) riリ, i no meriメイ, tsuツ, reレ, hi no meriメヒ. However, scales (1) & (2) are in related keys and so are very close and sometimes both scales may be used in the same piece. When the scale is ascending, it is played roロ, tsu no meriメツ, reレ, chiチ, riリ, roロ. However, when the scale is descending it will be ro ロ, ri no meri メリ, chi チ, re レ, tsu no meri メレ,roロ. Furthermore, for playing, tsu no meriメツ is lowered half a tone to tsu no dai meriメメツ (the pitch of roロ) and chi no meriメチ becomes chi no dai meriメメチ (same as reレ) and when the whole tones are used (roロ, tsuツ, reレ, chiチ, riリ) sometimes they are lowered by one tone. This is known as ‘dai meri’大メリ as a general term which is a very important pitch control. Yokoyama-sensei considered that dai meri is the most important issue and jokingly referred to himself as the religious founder of the ‘dai meri sect’. For actual playing, firstly, “polish the sounds” which means making good, full sounds. Yokoyama-sensei always stressed the importance of blowing otsu no ro乙のロ for 10 minutes every day without any yuri (vibrato), just playing straight. Recently, I have been teaching the following: Blowing otsu no ro乙のロ, use up all your air in just 5 seconds producing a loud sound. After this repeat the same but using up all your air in 10 seconds, and keep on repeating 25

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the pattern increasing the length of your sound by 5 seconds every time until one minute has passed, and make the last sound of this cycle a very soft go no haハ五. Then repeat this 5 times until you complete 5 minutes. This is just one possible pattern to work on while practicing Robuki. I consider honkyoku is made up of the wonderful combination of large and small sounds which include meriメリ. Therefore, I recommend doing this training every day. If you have time to spare, try not just blowing otsu no ro乙のロ but other notes as well. Firstly, it is necessary to consider how to control pitch properly. What is important is firstly tsu no meriメツ. Play from roロ to tsu no meriメツ and open the first finger hole 1mm (up to 2mm max), lower your head, and make sure there is a space for a half tone (most people tend to play higher). Slowly and accurately move your finger and neck to the meri position. Once the pitch is correct, gradually the movement from roロ to tsu no meriメツ can be played more quickly. Next, is from reレ to tsu no meriメツ. It is much more difficult to move down from a whole tone to a meri pitch such as from reレ to tsu no meriメツ, compared to slightly opening a hole to move up to a meri such as from roロ to tsu no meriメツ. Therefore, practice slowly and try to be as accurate as you can. Similarly, practice reレ - chi no meriメチ, hiヒ - chi no meriメチ, chiチ - ri no meriメリ and riリ - ri no meriメリ slowly and carefully. The high pitch octave (kan) is blown with slightly closed lips but it is hard to lower the pitch. Even in the case of high pitches, relax the lips and try to blow as accurately as possible. The next practice is to lower the half tones by meri, that is to meri a meri to reach down to a lower pitch, for example if it is tsu no meriメツ, lowering it down to roロ, so for a 1.8 shakuhachi it would mean from eb to ebb(d). From now on, I will discuss honkyoku specific pitch control. The pitch of roロ - tsu no meriメツ – roロ, should be blown accurately as roロ - tsu no meriメツ - tsu no dai meriメメツ. Similarly, the pitch of reレ -chi no meriメチ - reレ will be reレ - chi no meriメチ - chi no dai meriメメチ. Then the pitch of chiチ - ri no meriメリ – chiチ will be chiチ -ri no meriメリ - ri no dai meriメメリ. The high octave kan register is even more difficult so one needs to practice even harder to obtain an accurate pitch. Another important point regarding the movement of pitches is to practice the following by moving the neck down, lower one tone of roロ, tsuツ, reレ, chiチ, riリ. riリ - ri no meriメリ – riリ (1.8 = C - Bb - C) chiチ - chi no dai meriメメチ – chiチ (1.8 = A - G - A) reレ - re no dai meriメメレ – reレ (1.8 = G - F - G) tsuツ - tsu no meriメツ – tsuツ (1.8 = F - Eb - F) roロ - ro no dai meri大メロ – roロ (1.8 = D - C - D) Try to practice without half hole fingering, just moving your head downwards to lower the 26

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pitch as you would when moving from roロ to ro no dai meri大メロ, and practice this with all the other pitches from riリ all the way down to otsu no ro乙のロ by trying to lower each note by one tone as far as you can. This is very difficult to do in the high kan register. For riリ, chiチ, reレ and tsuツ you can just do half holing, but in the case of roロ alone you have to control it by relaxing your embouchure and lowering your head to lower down one tone. I would say that only about 10 people in the world can very accurately control ro no dai meriロ 大メリ in both kan甲 and otsu乙 registers. No doubt, you can be the 11th player! I have been talking about meri tones, but through accurate pitch control, koten honkyoku becomes very attractive music. If there is a lack of control, you may be criticised as playing out of tune. In order to overcome the problems of pitch control and not playing koten honkyoku shakuhachi music, which I love so much, out of tune, you need to follow the above basic practice very diligently. Now, finally, practicing a piece of music. Firstly, it is important to listen to it over and over again as the music score is just a simple memo. To gain a clear grasp of the melody, it is important to sing the piece out loud. Next, as you listen to the music and play it, try to grasp the fingering movement, strengthweakness of breath and the length of breath (ma-a-i), the strength or weakness of pressing the holes, the speed of movement of the neck upwards and downwards and the characteristic phrases of the particular piece. If you have face-to-face lessons with your teacher, carefully observe how s/he plays in front of you. However, there is the story of the teacher telling the student ‘Blow as I told you, not as I did!’ In other words, even teachers can’t always play well. About 70% of the honkyoku playing elements can be achieved through basic practice, including making sounds with strength and weakness, lowering one tone and further lowering half tones of meri notes (2 step meri). In terms of special techniques, such as korokoro, practice accurately so that you can do it any time it arises in the music. Finally, spin out the melodies from your shakuhachi. Dynamic music needs to be played dynamically and quiet music quietly so try to generate your own sound and expression. Selecting pieces of music for practice depends on what you like or would like to play. Practicing your favourite pieces will give you a strong motivation to play more and, in time, gradually try harder pieces. It is a good idea to record yourself after you have been playing a piece for a while and to listen to it. Those who feel that it is really poor and hate to hear their own playing are likely to become promising players. It is important to check your own playing by yourself. Yokoyama-sensei told us that the real value of playing honkyoku is the depth of your state of mind meaning that after playing it so very many times, the actual characteristics of the music will come out which is the real honkyoku and is way beyond matters of technique. Usually, 27

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we are all still struggling with pitches, an insufficiency of breath, and fingering difficulties so do not reach the state of mind needed to create real honkyoku but I always hope that one day I can handle breath and pitch as I want and then enjoy the music with the right state of mind. Yokoyama-sensei taught me shakuhachi music from level 1 to level 10 but unfortunately he passed away on 21st April 2011. Many of my colleagues, including Furuya Teruo and Kakizakai Kaoru who also learned from levels 1 to 10 from him, are pursuing the ‘world of Yokyoyama Katsuya’s shakuhachi music’. The ‘Kokusai Shakuhachi Kenshukan’ is based on koten honkyoku but is also working on deepening and developing modern shakuhachi music. My conclusion for those colleagues around the world, who have been attracted by the music of the traditional flutes of these small oriental islands, is to learn the basics properly, so follow the motto ‘more haste, less speed’. Matama Kazushi

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Image 1- Fragment of the notation for the honkyoku Tamuke 29

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Image 2: Technique exercises. See image 3 for details

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11. 12. 13. 14.

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1. Meri   2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Kinko  

Image 3- English version for the different sections on image 2

Han  on  no  meri    (half  tone  meri)   Zen  on  no  meri    (whole  tone  meri)   Tsuguri   Kamuri   Zen  on  haba  no  oshi  kamuri  (full  tone  kamuri)   Han  on  haba  no  oshi  kamuri  (half  tone  kamuri)   Hyogen  ho    (method  of  expression)  both  writings  have  the  same   meaning   Koro  koro  no  nakama    (kinds  of  koro  koro)   Iki  oto  no  sugata      (breath  and  sound)  different  indications   related  to  breath  and  sound.   Massugu  nobasu     Komifuki   Muraiki   Tamane  

Shakuhachi  koten  honkyoku  basic  techniques  (No  1)  KSK  

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Algunas observaciones sobre la práctica del koten honkyoku del Kokusai Shakuhachi Kenshukan (KSK) Me alegra mucho que entusiastas de todo el mundo toquen el shakuhachi y que se estén desarrollando formas interesantes del mismo en diferentes países. Cada país tiene su propio entorno musical y la forma que puede adoptar la música de otras culturas variará ampliamente. Aunque el shakuhachi se originó en Japón, su música ha sido absorbida, desarrollada y expandida a través del mundo como he podido ver cuando participé en la ESS Summer School en Radolfzell, Alemania, el pasado año y estoy seguro de que se continuará profundizando y desarrollando la música de shakuhachi procedente de los distintos entornos musicales de Europa, en el futuro. Como miembro del KSK, en este artículo me gustaría escribir sobre la práctica del koten honkyoku (música tradicional de shakuhachi solo) que creó las bases de toda la música de shakuhachi. El Gendai kyoku (música contemporánea) también es un distintivo de la interpretación KSK pero me gustaría dejarlo para otra ocasión. El koten honkyoku es una música de respiración y la duración de una respiración se expresa como ‘ma- a-i’. El koten honkyoku difícilmente empleará un ritmo fijo tal como 1, 2, 3, 4 y al tocar una melodía, una respiración durará un cierto espacio de tiempo lo que aproximadamente se describe como el largo de una línea, como se puede ver más abajo en la imagen 1 correspondiente a un fragmento de la notación para la obra ‘Tamuke’. Cerca de un 90% de las escalas del koten honkyoku comprenden 5 tonos tales como (1) roロ, tsu no meriメツ, reレ, chiチ, riリ, o (2) reレ, chi no meriメチ, riリ, roロ, tsuツ. El restante 10% comprende 5 tonos de (3) riリ, i no meriメイ, tsuツ, reレ, hi no meriメヒ. Sin embargo, las escalas (1) y (2) se encuentran ren tonos relacionados y por ello están muy próximas pudiendo emplearse a veces, ambas escalas en una misma pieza. Cuando la escala es ascendente, se toca roロ, tsu no meriメツ, reレ, chiチ, riリ, roロ. Sin embargo, cuando la escala es descendente se empleará ro ロ, ri no meri メリ, chi チ, re レ, tsu no meri メレ,roロ. Más aún, cuando tocamos, en ocasiones tsu no meriメツ se baja medio tono hasta tsu no dai meriメメツ (que tiene la misma altura de roロ) y chi no meriメチ pasa a ser chi no dai meriメメチ (con igual altura que reレ) y cuando se emplean los tonos básicos (roロ, tsuツ, reレ, chiチ, riリ) a veces son descendidos un tono. De forma genérica estos sonidos son conocidos como ‘dai meri’ 大メリ, e implican un importante control de las alturas. Yokoyama-sensei consideraba que dai meri es el elemento más importante y en broma se refería a sí mismo como el fundador de la «secta religiosa dai meri». Para poder tocar, lo primero es «pulir los sonidos», lo que significa ser capaz de producir sonidos buenos y llenos. Yokoyama-sensei siempre hacía hincapié en la importancia de soplar otsu no ro乙のロ durante 10 minutos cada día sin utilizar yuri (vibrato). 32

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Recientemente he estado enseñando lo siguiente: Soplando otsu no ro乙のロ, utilizad todo vuestro aire en solamente 5 segundos produciendo un sonido fuerte. A continuación repetid lo mismo pero esta vez con una duración del sonido de 10 segundos y continuad así incrementando la duración en 5 segundos cada nueva repetición hasta que haya pasado 1 minuto (haced que el sonido de la ultima de estas repeticiones sea un go no haハ五 muy piano (suave). Luego repetid todo este esquema 5 veces hasta completar un total de 5 minutos. Este es solamente uno de los posibles patrones que podéis utilizar en la práctica del Robuki. Considero que el honkyoku está constituido por una maravillosa combinación de sonidos amplios y pequeños que incluyen meriメリ. Por lo tanto, recomiendo hacer esta práctica diariamente. Si tiene más tiempo libre, intente no solo soplar otsu no ro乙のロ sino otras notas también. Antes que nada es importante considerar como controlar la altura de los sonidos de forma correcta. En primer lugar lo importante es tsu no meriメツ. Tocar de roロ a tsu no meriメツ y abrir el primer agujero 1mm (hasta 2mm max), baje su cabeza y asegúrese de que hay un espacio de un medio tono (la mayoría de la gente tiende a tocar más alto). Lenta y cuidadosamente mueva su dedo y nuca a la posición meri. Una vez la altura sea correcta, gradualmente el movimiento de roロ a tsu no meriメツ podrá tocarse con mayor rapidez. Lo siguiente es de reレ a tsu no meriメツ. Es mucho más difícil bajar de un tono entero a una altura meri como hacemos de reレ a tsu no meriメツ, comparado con abrir ligeramente un agujero para subir a meri, como de roロ a tsu no meriメツ. Por lo tanto, practique lentamente e intente ser lo más preciso posible. De manera similar, practique reレ - chi no meriメチ, hiヒ - chi no meriメチ, chiチ - ri no meriメリ y riリ - ri no meriメリ lenta y cuidadosamente. La octava alta (kan) se sopla con los labios ligeramente cerrados pero es difícil bajar la altura. Incluso en caso de tonos superiores, relaje los labios e intente soplar lo más cuidadosamente posible. La siguiente práctica es bajar los medios tonos de meri, es decir, de meri a meri para llegar un altura más baja, por ejemplo si es tsu no meriメツ, bajándolo a roロ, es decir, para un shakuhachi 1.8 significaría de eb a ebb(d). A partir de ahora, hablaré sobre el control de la altura específico del honkyoku. La altura de roロ - tsu no meriメツ – roロ, debe soplarse cuidadosamente como roロ - tsu no meriメツ – tsu no dai meriメメツ. De manera similar, la altura de reレ -chi no meriメチ – reレ será reレ - chi no meriメチ - chi no dai meriメメチ. Luego la altura de chiチ - ri no meriメリ – chiチ será chiチ -ri no meriメリ - ri no dai meriメメリ. El registro de la octava alta kan es mucho más difícil por lo que se necesita practicar mucho más para obtener la altura correcta. Otro punto importante relativo a las alturas es poner en práctica lo siguiente moviendo la nuca hacia abajo, descendiendo un tono de roロ, tsuツ, reレ, chiチ , riリ . riリ - ri no meriメリ – riリ (1.8 = C - Bb - C) chiチ - chi no dai meriメメチ – chiチ (1.8 = A - G - A) 33

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reレ - re no dai meriメメレ – reレ (1.8 = G - F - G) tsuツ - tsu no meriメツ – tsuツ (1.8 = F - Eb - F) roロ - ro no dai meri大メロ – roロ (1.8 = D - C - D) Intenten practicar sin la digitación de medio tono, solo moviendo su cabeza hacia abajo para bajar la altura como haría cuando se desplaza de roロ a ro no dai meri大メロ, y practique esto mismo con todo el resto de alturas desde riリ descendiendo hasta otsu no ro乙のロ en el intento de bajar de nota en nota lo máximo posible. Esto es muy difícil de hacer en el registro alto de kan. Para riリ, chiチ, reレ and tsuツ pueden tapar medio agujero, pero solo en caso de roロ tiene que controlarlo relajando la embocadura y bajando la cabeza para bajar un tono. Diré que tan solo 10 personas en el mundo pueden controlar con precisión ro no dai meriロ大メリ tanto en registro kan甲 como en registro otsu乙. Sin duda, ¡Ud. podría ser la 11ª ¡ He estado hablando sobre los tonos meri, a través del control preciso de la altura, koten honkyoku se convierte en una música muy atractiva. Si no existiera este control, le criticarán por tocar sin respetar la afinación. A fin de sobrellevar los problemas del control de altura y poder tocar la música koten honkyoku para shakuhachi , que adoro, sin desafinar, necesita seguir esta práctica básica con diligencia. Ahora, finalmente, practiquemos con una pieza musical. En primer lugar, es importante escucharla una y otra vez ya que la notación solo es un simple recordatorio. Para tener una idea clara de la melodía, es importante cantar la pieza en voz alta. Lo siguiente, cuando escuche la música y la empiece a tocar, ha de intentar comprender la digitación, la fuerza y suavidad de la respiración y el espacio de la misma (ma-a-i), la fuerza o no en la presión de los agujeros, la velocidad de movimiento de la nuca hacia arriba y hacia abajo y las frases características de la pieza en particular. Si tiene clases presenciales con su maestro/a, observe como toca ante Ud. Sin embargo, se cuenta una historia del maestro que le dice al alumno «Sople como le dije, como no yo lo hice». En otras palabras, ni siquiera los maestros pueden tocar siempre bien. Se pueden alcanzar sobre un 70% de los elementos para tocar el honkyoku a través de la práctica básica, incluso haciendo sonidos fuertes y débiles, bajando un tono y luego bajando medios tonos de los tonos meri (2 grados de meri). En cuanto a las técnicas especiales, tales como koro-koro, practique con precisión de modo que pueda realizarlo siempre que surja en la música. Finalmente, prolongue las melodías desde su shakuhachi. La música dinámica necesita ser tocada dinámicamente y la música tranquila necesita tranquilidad, así es que intente generar su propio sonido y expresión. La selección de las piezas de música para la práctica dependerá de lo que le guste o le 34

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gustaría tocar. La práctica de sus piezas favoritas le dará una mayor motivación para tocar más y, con el tiempo, gradualmente, intentarlo con piezas más difíciles. Es una buena idea grabarse a uno mismo tras haber estado tocando un pieza durante un rato y escuchar la grabación. Aquellos que piensen que el resultado es muy pobre y odien oír cómo han tocado están muy cerca de ser intérpretes prometedores. Es importante que Ud. mismo revise su forma de tocar. Yokoyama-sensei nos decía que el valor real de tocar el honkyoku es la profundidad de su estado mental, con ello quería decir que tras tocarlo tantas veces las verdaderas características de la música harían aparición, esto es el honkyoku real que va mucho más allá de la cuestión técnica. Generalmente, todos batallamos con las alturas, con la insuficiencia de aire y las dificultades de digitación por lo que no alcanzamos el estado mental necesario para crear el honkyoku real pero siempre tengo la esperanza de que algún día podré manejar la respiración y altura como deseo y entonces gozaré de la música en el correcto estado mental. Yokoyama-sensei me enseñó la música de shakuhachi del nivel 1 al nivel 10 pero desafortunadamente falleció el 21 de abril del 2011. Muchos de mis colegas, incluido Furuya Teruo y Kakizakai Kaoru que también aprendieron desde los niveles 1 al 10 con él, continúan «el mundo de la música de shakuhachi de Yokoyama Katusya». El ‘Kokusai Shakuhachi Kenshukan’ está basado en el koten honkyoku pero también trabaja en la profundización y desarrollo de música moderna para shakuhachi. Mi conclusión para aquellos colegas de alrededor del mundo, que se han visto atraídos por la música de las flautas tradicionales de estas pequeñas islas orientales es la de aprender los fundamentos correctamente, siguiendo la expresión «más rapidez, menos velocidad» (vísteme despacio que tengo prisa).

Matama Kazushi

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Imagen 2: ejercicios técnicos. Ver detalle de traducción en imagen 3

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11. 12. 13. 14.

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Kinko  

Image 3- Casetellano de las diferentes seciones de la imagen 2

Han  on  no  meri    (half  tone  meri)   Zen  on  no  meri    (whole  tone  meri)   Tsuguri   Kamuri   Zen  on  haba  no  oshi  kamuri  (full  tone  kamuri)   Han  on  haba  no  oshi  kamuri  (half  tone  kamuri)   Hyogen  ho    (method  of  expression)  both  writings  have  the  same   meaning   Koro  koro  no  nakama    (kinds  of  koro  koro)   Iki  oto  no  sugata      (breath  and  sound)  different  indications   related  to  breath  and  sound.   Massugu  nobasu     Komifuki   Muraiki   Tamane  

Shakuhachi  koten  honkyoku  basic  techniques  (No  1)  KSK  

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imagen 1 - Fragmento de la notación del honkyoku Tamuke 38

Reviews / Events

From now on, reviews of materials, such as books and CD’s, will appear in the first available issue of the NL after being received by the Editors. Reviews of events, such as Summer Schools, workshops, master classes and concerts, need to be submitted by the deadline for the next edition of the NL, ie. within a maximum of 3 months after the event. Any reviews of events received after that date will be published on the ESS website. Thanks a lot.

Shakuhachi music at the Spaarne

The Editors

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n the weekend of 19th and 20th July, 2014 shakuhachi players and members of the public from the Netherlands and Germany gathered in the beautiful old city centre of Haarlem (Netherlands) on the river Spaarne, where, in the Golden Age, commercial ships departed to trade with the Orient, mostly Indonesia and Japan. I am sure that the inhabitants of that past time would never have seen what the inhabitants and tourists could see this summer; nicely, traditionally dressed Japanese people walking to the concert held in one of the antique patrician’s houses for which Haarlem’s old canals are so famous. Yodo Kurahashi and his wife, Ayako, had just come over from concerts in the cold mountains of Switzerland to our below sea-level country which surprisingly was at that moment suffering a rare blast of tropical heat and humid weather. They didn’t show it, nor did the audience; the venue was completely packed and we all enjoyed a beautiful concert of traditional Japanese music with shakuhachi and shamisen. In the same venue, we also had a workshop on the Saturday and a masterclass on the Sunday. Apart from learning a lot, it was a nice occasion to meet with other shakuhachi players and there was a lot of serious hard work together with much banter which Kurahashi-sensei, as always, is so good at engendering. So, we ended up being able to play several new pieces; both honkyoku and sankyoku. It was a lovely experience to be able to play sankyoku with Ayako’s singing and shamisen and Roderik’s koto. All in all, we really did have the warmest weekend of the year.

Joke Verdoold 39

Reviews / recordings

Recovery Suite Vinyl LP David Ross, Electronics Clive Bell, Shakuhachi

R Cd info

  Arrhythmia 1 Trauma Unit Immersion Symptom Sequence Locusts of Analgesia Sleep Healing   Post – Trauma Unit Valium of the Butterflies The Recovery Arrhythmia 2 (“secret track”)   LP @ 33 RPM side A = 6 tracks, 20 min side B = 5 tracks, 21:20 min

ecovery Suite is an unusual recording in a number of ways. Firstly, it combines two disparate sound worlds – the “natural” sound of the shakuhachi, and the “artificial” world of electronically-generated and -manipulated sound and deliberately questions their apparent antithesis. It also questions the nature of the recorded medium – in the days of mp3 files or CD recordings, the album has been released as a vinyl pressing, an art work not stored in digital form, and thus not inherently open to immediate and unlimited duplication. It is an object, tangible and thus more than a transient presence. Apart from its musical qualities, this lends the recording an intrinsic value, which is enhanced by the limitation to a production run of 250 copies (according to the press release). So what is this unusual music? The press release suggests that David Ross initiated the project while bedridden and recovering from a back injury; during this time, the only instrument he could play was electronics. Clive Bell was later drawn into the project as shakuhachi-player and co-composer. Given the circumstances, the subject matter of the pieces is not surprising; they all relate to aspects of illness in various forms – physical as well as mental – reflected in the titles (such as “Trauma Unit”, “Locusts of Analgesia”, or “Recovery”). Broadly speaking, the sound world reflects these themes; the electronic sounds, often in the form of loops, are reminiscent of, but by no means limited to, the sonic texture of medical electronics in an intensive-care unit – bleeps, hums, drones. The shakuhachi, which does not appear on every track, is nevertheless also drawn into this world. Its sounds are often ambivalent, ranging from noise, through tonally uncertain sustained notes with dynamic shifts 40

Reviews / recordings

of pitch and vibrato, through to trills and techniques (such as korokoro) which are clearly related to the shakuhachi canon. While the shakuhachi has a clear canon on which its contribution is based, there is no such standard repertoire for the electronic elements. According to the press release, David Ross plays a customized analogue oscillator, known as a “Drosscillator”. Judging by the nature of the sounds produced, this is a rather complex instrument, allowing for a broad range of manipulation of pitch, timbre and dynamics, from subtle distortion and filtering of sound, through to generation of non-harmonic overtone structures (presumably through ring modulation and frequency modulation), as well as percussive drum, cymbal and gong sounds. In fact, the sound world of the electronics is reminiscent of that produced by Buchla series synthesizers; although no technical details are given, it would not surprise me if the Drosscillator were conceptually related to these instruments. (This is by no means intended as a denigration, but rather as a compliment to the richness and warmth of the sound world produced, and as an aid for those with a background in music synthesis to imagine the sonic atmosphere of the record.) It is also apparent that either the Drosscillator contains many oscillators and signal processing units, or that a process of multitracking has been employed in making the record; the press release and record cover provide no clues as to whether any multitracking was carried out in the digital domain, or using an analogue tape recorder, which would be conceptually consistent with the release on an analogue medium (LP record). The combined sound world of shakuhachi and electronics tends, in this recording, to have something of a dream-like character. For some of the tracks, the term “nightmare” might be more appropriate; Ross and Bell have included the uncomfortable and disturbing elements of illness in their music. Drawing influences from free improvisation and loop composition (often with electronic percussion loops and drones which cast a nod to the electronica scene without being limited to the musical syntax of that genre), the pieces tend to come and go as open forms, and dream-like discontinuities and shifts of material and texture are common. The result is not aesthetically “rounded” or “satisfying” in the sense that, for instance, Western classical music aims at aesthetic polish; rather, it is disturbing, without being “threatening” – and above all, it is fascinating, drawing the listener in. Despite the openness of the forms of many of the tracks, there is nevertheless a clear level of structural thinking in the pieces’ composition. This is demonstrated particularly in the exploration of the relationship between the sound worlds of the shakuhachi and the electronics, which is (in my perception) an important aspect of the project. The apposite questions are: do these sound worlds meet and merge? And if so, how? The answer to the first question, I believe, is “yes”, and I consider this to be one of the successes of the recording. Of the eleven tracks on the LP (the last of them without a title, a “hidden” bonus track, as it were), three are without shakuhachi, at least in any obvious sense; I won’t exclude the possibility that some of the sounds in these tracks are derived from the shakuhachi by 41

Reviews / recordings

processing which obscures their origin. The others evince various forms of interrelationship: from apparent opposition (at the start of Side A, track 6, “Sleep Healing”), through to a high degree of unification (in Side B, track 4, “Arrhythmia 2”), in which the more or less acoustic sound of the shakuhachi appears to be paralleled by a processed version of the same line (with vibrato, filtering, modification of harmonic content) in textural counterpoint with electronic sounds (gong-like loops, and ethereal, triadic, sustained tones). The tracks which employ shakuhachi with the electronics all locate themselves somewhere on this spectrum; I personally find “Sleep Healing” particularly interesting, as it runs the entire gamut from contrast between shakuhachi and electronics, through to their integration, and the shakuhachi emerges at the end of the piece as the dominant force. The result of the levels of musical thought and exploration of these diverse sound worlds and their interrelationship is a highly unusual and, I believe, successful recording. The fact that this is a niche work is clearly recognized by the musicians, as evidenced by the production of only 250 copies. Nevertheless, it is an interesting and significant niche work, and the recording deserves to be heard by many more than the 250 people who will eventually own the LP.

Dr. Jim Franklin

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Announcements new section

From this volume onwards, the NL will include announcements of events in addition to ESS ones. These events should take place after the publication of the NL volume (please consult the Editors for exact dates of issue) and should include the following information: Date / Period Venue Cost Contact information Picture (may be edited to fit the needs of the NL format) If you decide on creating an image with all the above information, please make it to fit the following characteristics: 700 x 2000 pixel , @ 300dpi resolution , jpg image (6cm x 17cm equivalent) The Editors

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Contributor´s Guidelines

ESS Newsletter Contributor´s Guidelines The aim of the ESS Newsletter is to create a platform for members and non-members to further develop an understanding of shakuhachi  and place it in a wider context than just their own individual study and experience. It, therefore, includes, among others, a diverse range of topics  and new ideas, information, knowledge, materials and reflections on shakuhachi and the people who shape the musical scene. As far as is practical, the articles will be translated into some of the main  languages used in the European shakuhachi context. All this is accomplished by the selfless effort of the authors, translators and editors.   We encourage everyone to send in ideas for articles you would like to write or topics you would like to read about to the publications office by email at: newsletter@ shakuhachisociety.eu. Before each new number, a ‘call for articles’ will be issued and a deadline for submission will be set, but please feel free to send us your ideas on possible articles any time you want. In order to assist the authors in their task and to ensure some consistency, the following brief guidelines have been drawn up Should you wish for any shakuhachi material to be reviewed in the Newsletter (recordings, books, etc.), please contact us with the particulars and the editors will get back to you. Article length: the Newsletter includes articles of different lengths up to approximately 2,000 words. Please send your text in a text document (doc, docx, rtf). You can use any font and format since the text will be adjusted to the Newsletter format. Please use as many multi-media materials as possible including pictures and external links. Please send the pictures or other multi-media materials separately (contact the editors if the size of the files makes them difficult to be sent by e-mail). Please send your pictures in jpg, png or tiff format with a minimum resolution of 150 dpi. 44

Contributor´s Guidelines

Please provide acknowledgement/credit for the use of any other author’s material.  Please avoid self-promotion.    After submission, the articles will be proofread and edited, if necessary, with permission of the authors when practically possible. Editors will always try their best to find agreement with the authors but you should note that eventually the Editors decision will be final. The articles will then be translated when possible and the issue formatted. This Newsletter exists thanks to the authors, translators and illustrators who so generously offer their knowledge, time and energy to provide materials. Please, be one of them. Reviews of materials, such as books and CD’s, will appear in the first available issue of the NL after being received by the Editors. Reviews of events, such as Summer Schools, workshops, master classes and concerts, need to be submitted by the deadline for the next edition of the NL, ie. within a maximum of 3 months after the event. Any reviews of events received after that date will be published on the ESS website.  The Newsletter includes announcements on non-ESS events. Should you want your event´s information to be included in the Newsletter, please note that these events should take place after the publication of the NL volume (please consult the Editors for exact dates of issue) and you should send the following information: Date / Period Venue Cost Contact information Picture (may be edited to fit the needs of the NL format) If you decide on creating an image with all the above information, please make it to fit the following characteristics: 700 x 2000 pixel , @ 300dpi resolution , jpg image (6cm x 17cm equivalent)

ESS publications office

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ESS Membership

The European Shakuhachi Society is a non-profit organization and a registered UK charity devoted to the dissemination of the shakuhachi in all its different aspects throughout Europe through a wide variety of events, publications and other activities. All board members and helpers work on a volunteer basis and receive no financial benefit but the Society needs money for organizing a range of events, such as the annual Summer Schools, and that comes from the membership fees. Membership of the ESS is open to any person, both players or non-players, interested in the music of the shakuhachi in all its forms. Since the ESS is not affiliated with any particular school or aesthetic direction, its members represent a broad cross-section of styles and genres of shakuhachi. Supporting the ESS through joining is a means of helping maintain a coordinating resource of the shakuhachi in Europe. The benefits of membership include access to information about shakuhachi events and tuition throughout Europe and beyond, as well as discounts at www.shakuhachi. com and also fee reductions for the annual European Shakuhachi Summer Schools (discounts that are generally greater than the cost of the membership fee itself). The annual membership fee is €20. To join the ESS: • Please send an email to [email protected], giving your name and contact details, and if you wish, a little information about your interest in and experience with the shakuhachi. • Pay the membership fee via Pay-Pal. If you cannot make payment using this method, please send an email to [email protected] and we will find a way to help you We look forward to welcoming you into the European Shakuhachi Society! Join the ESS Shakuhachi Forum at www.shakuhachiforum.eu  Visit our 'Yahoo mailing group' at http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/Euroshak Learn about upcoming events on our website at www.shakuhachisociety.eu Check our Newsletter at http://shakuhachisociety.eu/publications/newsletter Join our Facebook group. The European Shakuhachi Society is a registered charity. Registered charity no. 1123060.

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