Customer Reviews

Shakuhachi - The Japanese Flute

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am Japanese. Even Japanese, recently such instrument is unpopular. Because of new fashion and music and words..some of Japanese young people is indifferent to old instruments like Shakuhachi. Though I am young yet, I listen to such old instrument many time. Because Shakuhachi have very long history, that is the music played by noblemen(Kyuutei ongaku=palace music) before more than 1000 years.

Even now, in Koukyo(Japanese the Imperial Palace), there are professional musician for Shakuhachi.

Shakuhachi is very important instrument as much as that in the point of Japanese music history.

Off course, some of Japanese feel calmness when listen to the sound. in such sense, I think that feeling for sound is the same even if where is countries.

Thank you for reading poor writing.

Although I find this music soothing and interesting, some people in my house find it very annoying, due to the abrupt dynamic changes and slow, non-rhythmic pace. It is thought provoking music, and for me conjures vivid imagery while listening. I find it very good to listen to while either relaxing or for critical thinking.

I own two shakuhachi albums, this one and also "World Network Vol. 49, Japan: Tajima Tadashi - Master Of Shakuhachi". Since both albums contain some of the same musical selections, they are easy to compare. Of the two, this album is shorter, but I prefer the way the instrument is played, which feels more sensitive and less showy.

The CD booklet also contains interesting notes about the shakuhachi and the individual tunes, although the World Network Vol. 49 disc has much better historical notes in the booklet.

Well, I finally gave in. While I've generally found CDs of international music by Nonesuch to be consistently high quality, and while I love the way Ensemble Nipponia (of which Miyata Kohachiro is a member) does traditional Japanese music, I held off from buying this particular CD...the shakuhachi flute isn't my overall favorite instrument, especially by itself; I've often found it to be monotonous and screechy. This CD proved me wrong, though, I'm happy to say. Each track is different in its own way, ranging from the smooth subtle calm of "Honshirabe" to the virtuoso trilling flights of "Tsuru no Sugomori"--all the while maintaining an austere meditative tone throughout the album. Miyata's performance is superb, handling the tricky parts with great artistry and skill without showing off, and he really brings out a deep, full sound in the shakuhachi that swims over the eardrums wonderfully. I was a skeptical listener, but this CD won me over.

I bought this CD on a whim, just looking for something different. I'm glad I did. The shakuhachi, in the hands of a master like Kohachiro Miyata, produces haunting melodies that are perfect for meditation. Played softly in the background, this music relaxes the body and quiets the mind. I play it often when meditating or writing. Close your eyes, and you feel like you're all alone, perhaps in a mountain temple (at least, I do).

Apologies to students of music - I am not - merely a listener. I ordered this album based on the first reviewers assessment (thanks, Chris!) I am the sort of fellow that can never remember an artist's name or the name of an album so I rely on reviews.

I use this music for work moods. As a designer with ADHD I like to load up the wurlitzer with 10 or 20 CD's appropriate to the style or `look' that I am working with and then sit in front of my drawing board and work straight through day and night -- ending when the CD's run out -- exhausted.

On one particular project, this was the fourth or fifth album to come up. Within just a few moments my work ceased as I became enthralled with the slow quiet sadness of the flute in Sanya. I could not decide if the attenuation of the sound was from the mixing or the skill of the artist at first. But after careful listening I knew it was the artist. This attenuation seemed to become a seperate dimension from the common pitch, tone and orchestrations. Its careful use conveyed such emotion that it stopped all other thoughts. Not recommended if you have a deadline.

I work in a very tense environment, surgical intensive care in a large teaching hospital. To create a more "civilized" environment for my patients, their families, and me, I usually play CDs of various types. I had played this one for one of my patients, a young woman of 36, and her mother. The young woman died not long ago, and her mother called me recently to enquire after this CD. She was having difficulty dealing with her daughter's death and felt that this recording, which had given them both comfort in such a trying time, might help her with her grief as well. What greater tribute can any piece of music receive?

Japanese gardens, Japanese interiors, kimonos, banzai, ikebana, the novels of Kawabata and Abe, the films of Kurosawa -- I hear them all in the sound of the shakuhachi, the bamboo flute. Like all the court and temple arts of Japan, the music of the shakuhachi is an art of simple refinement, of natural minimalism. The instrument is just a length of bamboo with a notch cut in one end and a number of carefully drilled finger holes. Half the tone of the instrument is simply the player's breathing. Virtuosity on the shakuhachi is a matter of expressive sighs and silences rather than racing fingers.

It's such a simple instrument, and yet it's not easy to play well. I went to Japan to learn it, and spent a glorious year there, but I wouldn't dare play my shakuhachi for Japanese friends. They would have to compliment me, and I'd have to demure, even if for once I played something decently.

This is the best recording I know of, of solo shakuhachi. The music is as good as the cover photo.

I first became interested in Japanese music through watching the films of Akira Kurosawa. His movies are as much an auditory as visual experience. He incorporates music from the traditional Japanese Noh theatre into his 'jidaigeki' (period drama) films. It is this music, perhaps more then the scenery which transports you to a different time and age. Noh music is very simple combing flutes and drums. Noh is a very minimalist form of theatre. only a bare minimum for the aesthetic stage and music allows the viewer to focus in on the performer and the drama upon them. By minimizing the art you see more. Shakuhachi takes this minimizing effect further by only presenting flute music and the outcome is inspirational. This music defies explanation, it is very simple yet concurrently extraordinarily complex for it can combine emotion of solitude and contemplation with joy and compassion. I cannot currently recommend any other music which allows one to look deep into oneself and at the same time feel joined with the greater world. Highly recommended for anyone looking for music to relax, meditate, think, and understand the larger world around them.

The playing is superb and the music also. My only reservation is that at 34 or so minutes the album is too short, almost cruelly so.

I'm no expert on the Japanese flute, but I do know that this is a wonderful CD.