New music for shakuhachi and koto!
Original compositions and improvisations.
Review copies of our recent CD released on LEO are available for
journalists who are interested in helping to promote the tour. Later in the
fall, the trio will be performing in Russia and Japan!
Philip Gelb - shakuhachi
Shoko Hikage - koto
Brett Larner - koto
Thursday, September 2 1999 8pm
SanFrancisco
Luggage Store Gallery
Friday, September 3, 1999 8 pm
SanFrancisco
Meridian Gallery (Shoko and Brett duet only!)
Saturday, September 4 1999 8pm
Carmel, CA
Martin Laborde Gallery
Friday, September 10 1999 8pm
Ventura, CA
The Daily Grind
Saturday, September 11 1999 8pm
LosAngelos
China Arts Object Gallery
For more information, please contact ryokan@wenet.net or 510 658 5736
Below is a review of our CD from the online journal, "Musings"
Many other reviews are already published and on the way in various
international journals and online magasines.
Larner/Hikage/Gelb: Indistancing
( Leo Lab : CD055 )
Brett Larner (koto), Shoko Hikage (koto), Philip Gelb (shakuhachi)
The use of "ethnic" instruments in Western free improvisation is
nothing new, of course -- in
search of exotic or just unusual timbres, musicians have been
picking them up for years. The
difference here is that these are exclusively Japanese instruments,
in a relatively traditional
ensemble, and the musicians involved know the idioms of the music
thoroughly, not just from a
handful of CDs borrowed from their local library. The result is
something extraordinary,
something simultaneously very Japanese and entirely Euro-American.
In his thoughtful sleeve-notes, Tetsu Saitoh refers to the principle
of biodiversity, whereby an
emphasis on genetic purity breeds weakness. While individual
musicians can choose to doggedly
pursue a single narrow vision with success, it seems that genres as
a whole tend to stagnate
without the interbreeding which was once called "fusion". Maybe
there's something in it;
certainly contact with the far East has enriched the worrk of many
Western musicians, and the
influence is undoubtedly reciprocal.
This particular fusion is a very specific one. The method -- free
improv -- is distinctly European,
but the sound-world is Japanese. The title track uses fairly long
silences in a manner reminiscent
of composer Stomei Satah, while the harmonies will remind many
listeners of Takemitsu or
even, here and there, more traditional styles. Japanese music has
always had a very nuanced
approach to melody and timbre which makes this kind of playing sound
less incongruous than if
these were players with a background in, say, Chinese traditions.
This despite the fact that
improvisation is not a big part of Japanese musical life, especially
in the silk and bamboo
traditions from which this ensemble comes.
What makes this more than a genetic freak, then, is that the two
parents have more in common
than you might think. Influential European and American improvisors
have often been influenced
by the Zen philosophy which has informed Japanese music for
centuries. The idea of creating an
auditory space in which sounds are permitted to be themselves came
through Cage to a
generation of improvisors from Pauline Oliveros to AMM, and although
there is a much more
conventional musical agenda here, that approach clearly unifies this
music too.
Gelb plays shakuhachi like an avant garde saxist, which is to say a
bit like a traditional
shakuhachi player. The kotoists play as a single voice, dispite
having met just half an hour
before they went on stage to perform this concert, and while there
are some extended techniques
the focus is on music-making, not gimmicks. The result is a disc of
beautiful, thoughtful and
exciting interaction -- anyone with a liking for Japanese music will
absolutely love it. Highly
recommended.
Richard Cochrane
Philip Gelb
shakuhachi:performance,lessons
ryokan@wenet.net
http://www.hooked.net/~ryokan/
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