Dear Shakuhachi List,
I hope everyone is in good spirits at the advent of the Fall season
despite all the turbulent events happening around the world.
I just returned from a very interesting and enjoyable tour of Belgium
and Holland with the Uzume Taiko Ensemble, Canada's first professional
taiko drum group. I serve the group in the capacity of shakuhachi, fue,
didge, and percussion player. I would like to share with you some of
the highlights of my experience blowing shakuhachi across windmill
country.
I left Canada with thoughts of the Vancouver Shakuhachi Festival and
how it may turn out. I did all I could to get as many things in place
as possible before I left such as making the web site, schedules,
advertisting, sponsorship, etc. So I felt a little bit more secure
about leaving for a month away from the helm. Thanks to my wife Sandra,
she took care of all the new registrants and other important details
while I was away. Also, we're very grateful to Norman Stanfield for
securing the University of British Columbia Asian Centre for us to use
as the venue for the Festival.
THE U-TURN TOUR
This was my first trip to Europe. I had a brief desire to go to the UK
while I was in high school but my desire to go to Japan to study
shakuhachi eventually consumed my being. But I've always dreamed to
playing shakuhachi in Europe at some point in my life. When Uzume Taiko
accepted me to join them on this tour that dream became a reality.
Without going into a long-winded description of the experience, this
tour of Belgium and Holland was a great success, and gave us much
confidence in our work. With the help of a fine tour manager, we
traveled all over Belgium and Holland by van and truck to each of the
15 theaters, some huge and some small. We started from Amsterdam, then
drove through the country sides, with our first show in Asse, Belgium
eventually finishing in Steenwijk, Holland. Every place we played to an
average audience attendance of 250, and each place gave us a standing
ovation without fail.
The wonderful thing about Europe for performance groups is that
theaters are in such close proximity to one another, as opposed to
Canada where everything is so far apart. Driving 8 hours to a venue is
not uncommon. Whereas in Europe not more than three hours is the
farthest one has to drive to a venue. Therefore it's easier to make a
living as a performer in Europe. People in Europe also seem to
appreciate live shows of a less commercial nature more than in North
America. Europeans also seem to be less enslaved by home-entertainment
than North Americans. Driving from town to town was quite challenging.
Without our tour manager, Dirk Bryzzbaert, we would never have been
able to accomplish the tour. Even with his trusted experience, we made
countless u-turns as we navigated through the highways and byways of
Belgium and Holland. Hence the dubbing of the "U-turn Tour".
KAITO and the KOMOSO SCHOLAR
During one of our breaks, I had the opportunity to meet other
shakuhachi folks in Holland and Denmark. I was invited to Leiden,
Holland to give a workshop at a SUIREN-JI Zen Centre for the Kaito
Dutch Shakuhachi Society, organized by Kees Kort. Kees was kind enough
to set this up for me and put me up for the night at his place, as well
as drive me to the train station the next morning. Thanks, Kees!
We barely made it to Skiphold train station in Amsterdam with 4 minutes
to spare before my train to Copenhagen departed. I almost cancelled my
trip to Denmark due to the cost of the trip, but finally decided on
going since this may be the only time to meet Torsten Olafsson at his
home. Torsten just published his translation of the 17th century KAIDO
HONSOKU (via Monty Levenson), the oldest surviving philosophical
account of the Fuke Shakuhachi movement. It's a totally fascinating
subject to me since I've always wondered what the practice of
shakuhachi was like back in the old days of Japan. Apparently it was
not as closely connected to zen as previously thought, which was what I
intuitively suspected. Torsten's CD ROM translation of the Kaido
Honsoku can be purchased on Monty's site, www.shakuhachi.com.
Torsten picked me up from Copenhagen Central Station and we drove to
his home in Helsignor (Elsinore) where we spent the evening talking
about the Kaido Honsoku in depth. I awoke the next morning and
practiced shakuhachi for an hour in his basement then we talked more
about shakuhachi subjects over brunch as we listened to old vinyl
records of Watazumi-doso. Before Torsten brought me to the train
station to go back to Amsterdam, he took me to Kronberg Castle, where
Shakespeare was inspired to write the play "Hamlet". As we drove toward
our destination in the dying light of the late afternoon, the
fortress-castle Kronberg rose out of the horizon like a gothic ghost
dream. From the Castle cliffs overlooking the Baltic Bay you could see
Sweden in the distance, canopied by ominous black clouds, pregnant with
rain and storm. We drove back to Torsten's place to pick up my luggage
then we drove to the train station where I took the overnight train
back to Amsterdam, comforted by new imaginations and inspirations about
the shakuhachi. Thanks, Torsten!
Overall the tour of Europe was a great success. Other highlights of the
trip were meeting the German Taiko group, WADOKYO, making new European
friends, and drinking the various European beers!
ON TO THE VSF 2003
My body never really adjusted fully to European time zone, so returning
to Vancouver felt wonderful, to say the least. Also relieved to be back
to focus on organizing the Vancouver Shakuhachi Festival. I got back to
find that 30 people will be coming to partake in the Festival and we
hope to have more people register in the next couple weeks before the
actual event takes place. Folks from Japan, California, Oregon,
Washington, Victoria, Kootenay Mountains, and Alberta will be coming.
We're all very excited here about the First Vancouver Shakuhachi
Festival. It promises to be a beautiful and inspiring experience. Hope
to see you there!
Best wishes,
Alcvin Ramos
SSBC
#214-130 W. Keith Road
N. Vancouver, B.C., Canada V7M 1L5
Tel. 604-904-2069
Email: ramos@telus.net
web: www.bamboo-in.com/VSF2003.html
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