The Economics of It All

I've been involved in collecting shakuhachi for some time here in Japan. It's generally had many rewards. For example, I've been able to pass some of my collection on to eager learners who otherwise don't have access to well-made instruments and reasonable prices. I've also had the great advantage of being able to play many instruments of varying quality and age. I decided to do this as a means to an end. That end is to build a recording studio and chronicle the many traditional musicians that live in these parts of Japan and who would otherwise live and die without being heard from or of. As a musician and specifically a shakuhachi player and teacher, I considered this to be a pity. I quickly realized that my unique situation would in effect kill four birds with one stone. Get the studio built and outfitted, record these living treasures and add an aspect of recognition to their lives and those of their families outside of their work-a-day lives, supply qulaity instruments to folks who didn't have reliable access to them, thus giving some happiness to them and finally, having the chance to play and increase my own collection through the avenues that I travel in order to get the shakuhachis in the first place. However, this, like many pursuits these days is taking a back seat to the world economic crisis. Movement of instruments has slowed down somewhat and that means that everything connected must also slow down. That's okay. I can wait. And in the mean time, I play.

Of Old and New

I'll have the opportunity to do something quite unusual on March 16th on the main stage of the Kumamoto Prefectural Theater in Kumamoto, Japan. I was invited to perform along with members of Pro Musica Nipponia, a professional Japanese traditional instrument performance group. It's an honour for me to do that, though it isn't the first time for me. I also had the chance and honour about 5 years ago when we performed Taketori Monogatari (The Legend of the Bamboo Cutter) which is a story put to music much like the larger Heike Monogatari. Though I'm thrilled to be doing it again, that isn't the point I want to make here. It has more to do with the choice of music for us to perform and a couple of the players who will be joining in.
As for the piece of music, we will be performing a well known composition by jazz pianist Chick Corea, entitled Spain. I'm not at all sure what possessed the organizer of this performance to go that route (I must ask them), but something tells me that it was an attempt to validate traditional instruments to some degree (I hope that's not the case). Of course attempts have and continue to be made using Japanese traditional instruemnts in the performance of a variety of modern works outside of the genre, so that in itself isn't new. But certainly, in the local area of Kumamoto, Japan, it hasn't been done on a large stage for a large audience. None-the-less, it will be interesting to see what comes of it.
Now the second point of interest is that I and PMN will also be joined on stage by an upcoming koto player who has only been learning the koto for 6 years. That person's name is Sophie Cairns and she is my daughter. Though she has played on many stages locally with local players, and in fact did her first solo performance of the very difficult piece Tori No Yo Ni (Like a Bird) by Sawai Tadao last December, this will be her first chance to play with such an elite group of professional players on a big stage. I'm excited for her and the other Kumamoto players who will be performing in the show. I'm also looking forward to it very much.
At this point, I don't know exactly who the other players will be, but the instrumentation will be piano, koto, shamisen, biwa (I understand that the very gifted Satsuma Biwa virtuoso Kumiko Shutoh will be playing), shakuhachi and wadaiko. I'll report again after the performance.