Customer Reviews

Art of the Japanese Bamboo Flute

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This recording is of the music of Watazumi Doso, the teacher of Katsuya Yokoyama. Watazumi, who died in the late 20th century, was an authentic eccentric of the Zen Buddhist tradition. Larger than life, he has left us stories of his life that have reached mythical proportions. Watazumi's student, Katsuya Yokoyama has taught the majority of all professional shakuhachi performers in the world today. The music here is not necessarily soothing. It demands your attention. This CD is essential to anyone who wants to hear examples of a primary source of the style and techniques of today's shakuhachi players.Highly recommended.

This is an odd re-issue of an old Everest LP (#3289), a recording of the gifted and idiosyncratic shakuhachi player, Watazumido-shuso. Since I own the LP, and love this man's refined, delicate playing, I was looking forward to a cleaner, noise-free CD of the same music. To my dismay, the CD sounds as if it were dubbed using a $20 microphone and a cheap noise-limiter. Sonic levels fluctuate erratically, and most of the time it sounds as if the musician were playing in a distant attic alcove. There are noticeable, regular pops on each track. Much of the sonic richness of the original recording is gone; indeed, were it not for the playing style, one might have trouble identifying the instrument! Moreover, Mr. Watazumido-Shuso's name does not appear anywhere on either the CD itself or the jewel inserts!!! The people at "Legacy International", who produced this disk, should be embarrassed.

What a pity. I'll stay with my slightly scratchy LP.

The performances on this CD are absolutely phenomenal. The music has a raw authenticity that is sometimes missing in more polished recordings of Japanese music by groups like the Yamato Ensemble. Put simply, this is the kind of direct, unthinking [in the Zen sense] music that gets to the heart of Fuke Zen.

Having said that, the sound quality on this CD is just this side of unlistenable. There is all kinds of sound and distortion and, in the higher registers, the tone of the flute is strangely compressed. If someone were to re-master this recording, it would be a masterpiece. As it is, it is, at times, barely listenable/

Enjoyment of this music is an acquired taste, but once that taste is acquired, it is amply rewarded. There is peacefulness and a calm inducing quality that almost borders on the effect one seeks to achieve in listening to environmental sounds. Playing this on your car CD may take 10 mph off your speed.